Yoon Repeatedly Invokes Park Chung-hee... Embracing TK and Conservative Factions

Repeated Mentions of Park Chung-hee Over the Past 20 Days
Met Former President Park Geun-hye Twice
Emphasized Livelihood and Park Chung-hee's Spirit to Secure Conservative Support

President Yoon Suk-yeol has been repeatedly mentioning former President Park Chung-hee recently while attending memorial ceremonies and Saemaeul Movement events. This is interpreted as an effort to prevent the traditional conservative base from defecting and to strengthen his support base ahead of the general parliamentary elections scheduled for April next year.

According to the Presidential Office on the 13th, President Yoon attended the 2023 National Saemaeul Leaders Conference 'Youth Promise' proclamation ceremony held at KINTEX in Ilsan the previous day, stating, "The remarkable growth and prosperity of the Republic of Korea so far was possible because of the people's will to 'let's live well' and the belief that 'we can do it'."

'Let's live well' was the slogan of the Saemaeul Movement led by former President Park Chung-hee in the 1970s. President Yoon also indirectly referred to former President Park by saying, "There was also a great leader who led this will and belief."

While President Yoon has occasionally mentioned former President Park when explaining economic and export revitalization in the past, it is unusual for him to refer to him frequently within a short period. After completing his state visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the 26th of last month, President Yoon immediately attended the 44th memorial ceremony for former President Park Chung-hee. This was the first time a sitting president attended the memorial ceremony for former President Park. Even Park Geun-hye, former President Park’s eldest daughter, did not attend the memorial ceremony during her presidency but held separate commemorations.

On the 2nd, at the '1st Local Autonomy and Balanced Development Day Commemoration' held in Daejeon, President Yoon emphasized, "President Park Chung-hee established the Defense Science Research Institute in the early 1970s, which has since become the center of advanced research and development in our country," adding, "The central government, local governments, and communities must all work together diligently. Let us all live well together."

On the 7th, after attending the 2023 National Members Conference of the Barun Living Movement held at EXCO in Daegu and visiting Chilseong Market in Daegu, President Yoon visited the residence of former President Park Geun-hye in Dalseong County, Daegu, for a friendly talk. This was 12 days after meeting at the memorial ceremony for former President Park Chung-hee held at the Seoul National Cemetery.

President Yoon said to former President Park, "I found materials from the Export Promotion Meeting chaired by former President Park Chung-hee in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy warehouse. The duplicated materials were well preserved, even bearing former President Park’s signature," and added, "Reading the Export Promotion Meeting materials was interesting, and I was amazed more than once at how such ideas were conceived at that time. It is said 'On-go-ji-shin'?we must learn from past experiences."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

It is observed that President Yoon’s frequent references to former President Park Chung-hee are a strategy to solidify the support base in Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) and among conservatives in preparation for the general elections five months away. It is expected that the president’s approval rating will influence the election as much as the party’s support rating, but President Yoon’s approval rating remains around 30%.

According to a public opinion poll released on the same day by Realmeter commissioned by Energy Economy Newspaper for the second week of November (November 6?10, 2,503 men and women aged 18 and over, with a sampling error of ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level; detailed information is available on the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website), President Yoon’s approval rating for state affairs dropped by 2.1 percentage points from the previous week to 34.7%. The disapproval rating rose by 2.0 percentage points to 62.2%.

This month, President Yoon plans to build a foundation for practical economic cooperation through visits to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Kingdom and France, and after returning home, he intends to secure momentum for governance based on public sentiment through visits to livelihood sites and raise his approval rating. A presidential office official said, "President Yoon’s greatest concerns are 'livelihood' and 'public sentiment,'" adding, "Visits to livelihood sites will continue as a long-term effort."