WSJ: "Korean First Lady Jeopardizing Husband's Position"

WSJ "Mrs. Kim Scandal Accelerates Approval Rating Decline"
"A Narrative Familiar to Koreans Since 2017"

On the 7th at 5 p.m., as the National Assembly re-voted on the special investigation law concerning First Lady Kim Keon-hee and then voted on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. media focused on First Lady Kim as a factor in a potential emergency martial law situation.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the scandals surrounding First Lady Kim in an article titled "South Korea’s First Lady Looms Over Her Husband’s Embattled Presidency" on the 6th (local time).

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WSJ pointed out that President Yoon is facing a vote on the impeachment motion in the National Assembly, while First Lady Kim is facing a re-vote on the special investigation law, noting that this is no coincidence.

It continued, "President Yoon’s approval ratings were not particularly high before, but as public issues related to First Lady Kim surfaced, the decline in approval ratings accelerated, and the image of the 'principled prosecutor' began to be damaged."

Professor Youngim Lee, who studies gender politics at California State University, Sacramento, told WSJ, "The Dior bag controversy became an effective means for President Yoon’s opponents to attack his weaknesses," and analyzed, "Protecting his wife from the special investigation confirmed what kind of leader President Yoon is."

WSJ reported that although President Yoon began to be criticized even within his own camp due to his wife’s scandals, he has still drawn a line.

It mentioned that whenever the opposition party passed the special investigation law concerning First Lady Kim, President Yoon exercised his veto power; that Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party, publicly demanded an apology related to the First Lady controversy; and that accordingly, President Yoon apologized for the controversy, promised to suspend the First Lady’s official activities and establish a second secretariat, but ultimately rejected the special investigation.

It also noted that President Yoon lost popularity due to the economic recession, soaring housing prices, and personnel controversies, and that thousands of doctors have been on strike since February over the push to expand medical school quotas.

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WSJ compared, "The ambitious image of First Lady Kim, who seems to control President Yoon, is a familiar narrative context to South Koreans who remember the impeachment crisis of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017."