Boiling Public Sentiment... 'Impeachment of President Moon' Petition Nears 1 Million Signatures

[Asia Economy reporters Son Sun-hee and Kang Na-hum] Public sentiment is boiling over. As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads into local communities, severely impacting daily life and causing even basic protective items like masks to become scarce, the arrows of blame have been aimed at the nation's highest commander-in-chief, President Moon Jae-in.

As of 11 a.m. on the 27th, the national petition titled "We urge the impeachment of President Moon Jae-in" posted on the Blue House website had garnered over 974,000 supporters. Despite some time remaining before the petition deadline, it has become the third most supported petition in history. The top two petitions were the dissolution of the Liberty Korea Party (1.83 million) and opposition to the reduced sentence for the suspect in the Gangseo-gu PC room murder (1.19 million).

The petitioner first pointed out the issue of securing protective supplies, stating, "In Korea, mask prices have surged more than tenfold and masks remain out of stock, making it difficult for citizens to purchase them, yet the president supported China with 3 million masks." Furthermore, regarding the failure to implement a "ban on Chinese entry," the petitioner argued, "As the President of the Republic of Korea, shouldn't the most important consideration be 'protecting one's own citizens'?" and insisted, "If he truly cared about his citizens, he should have banned entry from all regions of China."

This petition, raised on the 4th, initially did not gain many supporters when the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases was low, but in just the past two days, over 800,000 people have rapidly joined. As COVID-19 began spreading in local communities, criticism of the government's initial decision not to ban Chinese entry spread quickly.

President Moon Jae-in is receiving a briefing on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's work at the Blue House on the 27th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

In a public opinion poll conducted by Realmeter on behalf of tbs on the 25th and 26th and released on the same day, positive evaluations of President Moon's administration dropped 2.7 percentage points from the previous week to 44.7%. Negative evaluations rose 1.9 percentage points to 51.0%. Analysts attribute this to dissatisfaction with the government's response to COVID-19.

Reckless remarks by ruling party and government officials added fuel to the angry public sentiment. Former Democratic Party chief spokesperson Hong Ik-pyo mentioned the possibility of a "physical lockdown" of the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, where COVID-19 is most severe, and resigned the day before amid the controversy. Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo also sparked public outrage by stating at the National Assembly the day before, "The biggest cause of this COVID-19 outbreak is Koreans returning from China." Opposition parties such as the United Future Party called for Minister Park's dismissal that day. United Future Party floor spokesperson Sung Il-jong labeled Minister Park's remarks at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee as "absurd" and urged President Moon to dismiss him. Floor leader Shim Jae-chul also called for Minister Park's resignation.

The government maintains that a full ban on Chinese entry is "ineffective" under the current circumstances. This view is also shared by experts from the broader medical community. At a "meeting of experts from the broader medical community" held at the Blue House on the 24th, Baek Kyung-ran, director of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, emphasized, "We must quickly start mitigation policies to minimize damage." This means focusing efforts on reducing severe cases and deaths rather than implementing a "lockdown strategy" to block the spread. However, despite these expert explanations, public anger over the current COVID-19 spread and the government's response is unlikely to subside easily.

Meanwhile, as a counter-petition to the impeachment call, a petition supporting President Moon was also raised, mainly among his supporters. As of the same time, this petition, which started the day before, had gained over 443,000 supporters.