Change your governance style, Mr. President

President Yoon must change his governance style before it’s too late.

President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a children’s hospital on Wednesday, the last day of the five-day Chuseok holidays. Earlier, he met soldiers, police officers and firefighters. Taking care of people’s livelihoods is certainly the president’s duty. But such field trips can hardly turn the tide against the conservative president.

In a Gallup Korea poll conducted shortly before the Chuseok holiday, President Yoon’s approval rating plunged to 20 percent, the lowest since his inauguration in May 2022. In a Realmeter poll conducted three days later, the number hovered at 27 percent. Such low public support reflects citizens’ growing disappointment about Yoon’s approach to national tasks, including the pension, labor and education reforms and finding a way to raise the country’s pitiful birthrate.

During the holiday, no positive voice was heard from the people. Instead, they steadfastly complained about the soaring food prices and the ongoing medical vacuum from trainee doctors’ massive walkout to oppose the president’s drastic plan to increase the medical school admissions quota.

Few would oppose the president’s drive to reform the medical sector. But his administration adhered to the numerical increase of 2000 annually rather than effectively convincing medical circles of the need for the expansion. The government and the People Power Party even disagree over the increase in the quota for next year. It is already too late to reverse the quota hike for next year. The arrogant and domineering image of the president, which surfaced amid the intense conflict between the government and the medical community, only exacerbated people’s antipathy towards the president.

Under such dire circumstances, one of Yoon’s aides reportedly extolled the virtues of “a president who doesn’t mind his own approval ratings.” To make matters worse, the first lady has resumed her public activities without any apology for her suspicious acceptance of a luxury handbag from a mysterious pastor. In the Gallup Korea poll, people’s worsened feelings about the first lady played a part in lowering the president’s approval rating.

Yoon’s approval rating at 20 percent could be a Maginot Line for him to govern the nation. Even his solid support base in Daegu and North Gyeongsang and conservative voters in their 70s and older turned their backs on the president. Former President Park Geun-hye started to fall after her approval rating sank to 17 percent in October 2016 due to the Choi Soon-sil scandal. President Lee Myung-bak took the same path after his approval rating fell below 20 percent. President Yoon must change his governance style before it’s too late.