[Inside Chodong] President Yoon Must Be the Starting Point for Escaping the Crisis

The Crushing Election Defeat Stems from an Image of Poor Communication
Personnel Overhaul and Cooperation with the Opposition Needed
Change Must Come Through "Inclusive Leadership"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"I have nothing to say. No one expected such a crushing defeat...".

On the morning of the 11th, inside the Seohyeon Hall of the Presidential Office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, only silence and stillness prevailed. Among the presidential aides, the shock over the crushing defeat in the general election was palpable, and their expressions were filled with gloom. The aides who pass through the corridors daily minimized their interactions with reporters and refrained from commenting on the election results as much as possible. The atmosphere of the day before the election, when they pinned their last hope on President Yoon’s approval ratings rebounding after six weeks and asked each other, "How many seats will we take?" had completely vanished.

The main cause of the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the general election is attributed to the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s 'lack of communication.' In the lead-up to the election, whenever major issues arose, the administration failed to properly read public sentiment and responded two steps late, resulting in a deterioration of public opinion due to 'missed opportunities.' Despite widespread negative public opinion over First Lady Kim Geon-hee’s luxury handbag controversy, President Yoon referred to it as a "political conspiracy" instead of apologizing, stating that "the problem was not cutting ties coldly." The extreme confrontation with Han Dong-hoon, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, who emphasized "the public’s standards" regarding the handbag controversy, caused a sharp chill in party-government relations. The delayed handling of the resignation of Hwang Sang-moo, former Senior Secretary for Civil Society, who caused controversy with his "journalist knife attack" remarks, and the forced appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop as ambassador to Australia while under investigation for a Marine’s death incident, fueled the 'regime judgment theory.' Each time a crisis arose, the administration failed to quickly contain it and was left scrambling to manage the aftermath.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s longest-serving Chancellor for 16 years, ruthlessly dismissed high-ranking officials involved in scandals. A famous anecdote is when Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor who had favored her and helped her succeed politically, was embroiled in a corruption scandal in 1999; Merkel issued a separate statement and coldly expelled him from the party in effect. Ministers from the Christian Democratic Union who showed no results were also dismissed without mercy. Merkel is especially highly regarded for her 'inclusive leadership.' She was able to form coalition governments with opposing parties and exercised diplomatic power based on an inclusive spirit that enabled Germany to play a pivotal role in relations with France, the UK, and the US. German media evaluated, "Chancellor Merkel implemented a style different from her predecessors, aiming for consensus rather than polarization."

Now that Yongsan has received the report card of the general election defeat, change is urgently needed. The administration must humbly accept public sentiment and use this as a turning point for change. If it continues to stubbornly cling to poor communication and collapse as it is, the remaining three years will inevitably become a 'plant government.' The administration must use the election defeat as momentum to turn crisis into opportunity by carrying out personnel reshuffles and strengthening communication with the public. Labor, pension, and education reforms, which have yet to be realized, are impossible without cooperation from the opposition. The political extreme factionalism of 'vitocracy,' which opposes the opposing party’s bills or policies unconditionally, must be abandoned in favor of leading politics of cooperation. The starting point for escaping the crisis must be the president.