野 "Yoon's Private Apology Is Not an Apology... Seems to Still Not Understand Public Sentiment After Crushing Defeat"

Choo Mi-ae "Missed the Chance for a Genuine Apology"
Hong Ik-pyo "A Private Apology Is Not an Apology"

President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed his position in a closed-door Cabinet meeting regarding the ruling party's defeat in the general election, saying, "I am sorry for not properly listening to and honoring the will of the people," but the opposition parties fiercely criticized the apology format as inappropriate.

On the 17th, Chu Mi-ae, the elected member of the Democratic Party of Korea from Gyeonggi Hanam-gap, appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' and criticized, "After praising President Jeon Du-hwan, he posted a photo of the embassy and received fierce criticism from the public, and this apology is so lacking that it reminds one of that incident," adding, "Regarding the bill related to the death of Corporal Chae, which is currently on the plenary session agenda, the president could have made a sincere apology by saying he would not exercise the veto power, but he missed that opportunity."

President Yoon Suk-yeol is organizing documents after finishing his remarks at the Cabinet meeting held on the 16th at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Chu said, "What the people want to hear is not an apology but a change in the government's policy direction," and pointed out, "The direction was right, but saying that the people did not recognize it will likely provoke the anger of the public."

Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, also criticized President Yoon's remarks for being made in private, saying, "It is not an apology." On the same day, on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' he explained, "Even in personal relationships, when you hear 'someone apologized,' you don't accept it as an apology, right? So, the fact that the apology was not made through a public address to the nation was not important. That's why it was done privately."

He continued, "The government still does not properly understand the public sentiment from this general election," and said, "It seems to be expressed as regret toward the opposition party that did not support the government despite its proper work, and the people who do not fully feel or understand it."

Regarding reports that after President Yoon expressed his intention for personnel reshuffle, former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun and former Director of the Democratic Research Institute Yang Jeong-cheol, both from the Moon Jae-in administration, are being considered as the new Prime Minister and Chief of Staff respectively, he pointed out that these are not appropriate cards to soothe public sentiment.

Chu said, "Just before the impeachment of the Park Geun-hye administration, Kim Byung-joon, who served as the policy chief in the Roh Moo-hyun administration, was nominated as Prime Minister to calm the atmosphere, and this feels similar," adding, "However, it failed without obtaining the National Assembly's consent. Also, since the Park Geun-hye administration ended with impeachment, it has already been proven that appointing one prime minister cannot change anything, so I don't think former lawmaker Park Young-sun would accept it."

Floor leader Hong also said, "While political realignments can occur when there is at least about one year left in a president's term, it is quite difficult and unreasonable for a president with three years left and the ruling party to sever ties and undergo political realignment."