“Disapproval of the Yoon Suk-yeol Government Is at Its Peak”

Cho Jeong-sik (center), secretary general of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a meeting with the press on public sentiment over the Seol (Lunar New Year) holiday at the National Assembly on January 24. Yonhap News

On January 24, the Democratic Party of Korea summarized the public sentiment over the Seol (Lunar New Year) holiday and said, “The Yoon Suk-yeol government has gone too far.”

On Tuesday, Cho Jeong-sik, secretary general of the Democratic Party, met with the press at the National Assembly to convey public opinion over the holiday. He relayed the views of many people who said President Yoon Suk-yeol had “gone too far,” after watching how he treated former lawmaker Na Kyung-won and the Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. Cho further argued, “The political oppression of Lee is heading to extremes,” and said, “They are distorting the truth by spreading random fake news with this if-it’s-not-true-then-forget-it attitude and they are intent on removing their opponents and destroying the opposition party by conducting hundreds of searches and manipulated and planned investigations.”

The Democratic Party secretary general continued and said, “The president’s verbal bomb has been the topic at the Seol table.” According to Cho, many people asked why the president stirred controversy every time he went overseas and why he tried to conceal his mistakes and blame others when he should be correcting his mistakes and apologize. “The prices for vegetables, fruit, fish and everything that goes on the Seol table has risen, and the people expressed their shock and concern over soaring prices, particularly after receiving their heating bills,” Cho said. He also explained that many people let out their frustration because the government unable to take any action was a bigger problem than the hopelessly rising prices. During the meeting, Kim Sung-whan, head of policy in the Democratic Party, said, “As for the heavier burden of heating costs, our party leadership accepts it as a serious issue and will deliberate and review the problem in the Supreme Council meeting tomorrow (Jan. 25).”

Democratic Party lawmakers also mentioned that the people were complaining of problems linked to their livelihoods and were criticizing the government’s mistakes and the prosecutors’ investigation in a louder voice. On Tuesday, one veteran lawmaker representing a district in the Yeongnam region told the reporter over the phone that people complained about how quickly their loan interest due dates came by. He mentioned that the people criticized President Yoon for the way he treated former People Power Party (PPP) leader Lee Jun-seok and former lawmakers Yoo Seong-min and Na Kyung-won and for politically taking advantage of investigations into Lee Jae-myung too much. Another veteran lawmaker representing an area in Honam also said over the phone, “People who expressed political hatred and critical support claiming that the Democratic Party should do better have declined, while disapproval of President Yoon has reached extremes.” He also said that many people had given up their hopes on President Yoon.

Spokesperson Park Sung-joon appeared on Kim Tae-hyeon’s Political Show on SBS radio Tuesday and said, “The people claim that the Yoon Suk-yeol government’s domestic and international governance are both serious problems,” and argued, “We received demands from people claiming they were worried about our country. They asked the Democratic Party to fight properly and act with strength.”

The Democratic Party conveyed a public sentiment angry at the Yoon Suk-yeol government, but the party’s support continued to decline. President Yoon’s remark referring to Iran as the enemy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stirred controversy, but the Democratic Party did not benefit from it.

According to a survey of 2,515 adults ages eighteen and older nationwide conducted on January 16-20 by Realmeter upon a request from Media Tribune, the Democratic Party obtained the support of 43.3% of the respondents, only 3.1% ahead of the People Power Party (40.2%). The lead lies within the margin of error (confidence level of 95%, with a ±2.0% margin of error), and the gap decreased from a survey conducted by the same firm a week ago (5.2%). In a survey of a thousand people ages eighteen and older nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea on January 17-19, support for the Democratic Party was 5% lower than that of the PPP (37%). Although the gap lied within the margin of error (95% confidence level, ±3.1% margin of error), it was the biggest gap since the 7% recorded in a survey by the same firm on the third week of September. (For more details, you can refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website).

One veteran lawmaker said, “Some argued that the lack of a party strategy and response in addition to Lee Jae-myung’s legal risks, were the factors that blocked the party from drawing more support,” and added, “The bigger problem is that opinions (on various issues) among local residents and supporters are also running parallel (with no sign of reaching an agreement).”