'Baseball Enthusiast' President Yoon Picks Up Golf Clubs After 8 Years: "Started Following Advice from Those Around Me"

Preparing for Golf Diplomacy with 'Golf Enthusiast' Trump

President Yoon Suk-yeol, known as a 'golf enthusiast,' has reportedly resumed golf practice for the first time in eight years ahead of Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect famous for his love of golf, re-entering the White House.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is seen batting himself while youth baseball players watch during the San Diego Padres' children's baseball clinic held on March 16 at the Yongsan Children's Garden Baseball Field in Seoul.
[Image source=Presidential Office]

According to political circles on the 10th, a presidential office official said, "Considering various circumstances and following advice from those around him, President Yoon has started practicing golf." After former President Trump, the Republican candidate, won the 47th U.S. presidential election held on the 5th (local time), those around President Yoon advised him to prepare for 'golf diplomacy' to get closer to President-elect Trump, and the president followed this advice, according to the official.

It is reported that President Yoon has resumed golf practice for the first time in eight years since 2016. Although it is known that President Yoon often held golf clubs during his time as a prosecutor, he stated during the National Assembly confirmation hearing when he was a candidate for Prosecutor General that "after becoming head of the Criminal Investigation Division 2 at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2010, I hardly played golf." Within the ruling party, there are also remarks that since President Yoon has athletic skills built through baseball and basketball, he will likely regain his lost touch with golf in a short time.

In February 2017, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former U.S. President Donald Trump held a golf meeting at the Western Palm Beach Golf Club in Florida, USA. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

President-elect Trump conducted U.S.-Japan summit diplomacy through several golf meetings with then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his 2016 presidential election victory. Prime Minister Abe met President-elect Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, bringing a golden golf club as a gift. Abe was the first foreign leader Trump met as president-elect.

They held a golf meeting in February 2017 at Trump's Florida estate shortly after the first Trump administration took office, and also played golf in Saitama Prefecture during Trump's visit to Japan in November of the same year. At that time, Japanese media captured a scene where Prime Minister Abe ran out of a bunker and fell backward.