"Current Situation is Surrounded on All Sides"
"Leaders Must Feel Responsibility to Overcome It"
Amid growing controversy over the recording between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Mr. Myeong Taekyun, which the Democratic Party of Korea released on the 31st of last month, President Yoon's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point since his inauguration. Regarding this, Park Seong-min, head of Political Consulting Min, stated, "This situation has gone beyond a lame duck to a dead duck."
On the 4th, Park appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Taehyun's Political Show' and explained, "The media is also very unfavorable, and with the approval rating dropping, the current situation is a complete dead end. There is nothing that can be done."
On the 1st of this month, the public opinion research company Gallup Korea conducted a survey on President Yoon's job performance from October 29 to 31, targeting 1,005 people nationwide aged 18 and over. The positive evaluation of the president's job performance was recorded at 19%, down 1 percentage point (p) from the previous week. This is the lowest rating since President Yoon's inauguration and the first time the approval rating has fallen into the 10% range.
Park explained that there are three signs of a lame duck period. He said, "It becomes difficult for the president to place his people in positions, policies are rejected by the ruling party even if prepared, and confidential information that should not be leaked is pouring out." Park cited examples such as Han Dong-hoon winning 63% and becoming the leader of the People Power Party, and the emergence of dissenting voices within the ruling party regarding medical and political conflicts. He added, "The fact that confidential information is leaking outside means that (power) control is failing."
Some analysts are saying the situation is unfolding similarly to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. On the 31st of last month, Hong Joon-pyo, mayor of Daegu, posted on Facebook, "It feels like a d?j? vu of the eve of impeachment."
Park said, "At that time, there was internal division among former President Park, former lawmaker Kim Moo-sung, and former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min, so it is said to be similar to now," adding, "The difference is that having experienced impeachment once, the entire conservative camp has aftereffects and fear of impeachment." He explained that moderate and conservative voters are unlikely to support President Yoon's impeachment.
Park emphasized that to overcome this situation, the leader's responsibility and reform must be carried out. He raised his voice, saying, "Losing the general election and failing to recover approval ratings is a crisis, but the presidential office says it is not a crisis," and added, "If the president's ideas over the past two and a half years have failed, the people must be changed first." He continued, "Those who agreed to the regime change have been disappointed, so there must be a will to show that things will not continue as they are," stressing the need for reform.
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