Yoon faces isolation, empowered liberals after election

People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon declares his intention to resign at the party's headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Faced with a stinging verdict from voters in Wednesday’s general election, President Yoon Suk Yeol finds himself already a lame duck with three years left in office.

As much as the conservative People Power Party (PPP) tried to turn the tables against the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its scandal-ridden leader Lee Jae-myung, final vote tallies show that the DP largely succeeded in translating public anger over various controversies surrounding Yoon, his wife and administration into another sweeping parliamentary majority.

Having spent the past two years butting heads and wrangling with the DP-controlled National Assembly, Yoon must now contend with an empowered liberal opposition and will probably struggle to pass any of his policy initiatives.

The president’s political isolation is only set to deepen as the PPP, chastened by its third consecutive general election defeat as well as its failure to win most key battleground districts in the capital and Chungcheong regions, will likely distance itself from the Yoon administration.

Perhaps mindful of Yoon’s chronically low approval ratings, which have rarely broken 40 percent since he was sworn into office, some PPP candidates had called on the president to reduce his involvement in politics and focus on state affairs even before the election.

Those calls will only grow louder if the PPP perceives its ties to Yoon could imperil its chances of winning the presidency in 2027.

If Yoon formally quits the PPP, he would follow a precedent set by five of his democratically elected predecessors, who also resigned their party memberships to avoid tarnishing their allies by association.

Had the Yoon administration not recently committed a series of missteps, the PPP might have performed better in the election.

Surveys conducted in February showed public support for Yoon growing as his administration took a hardline stance against junior doctors who walked out in protest of its popular plan to increase medical recruitment.

However, the president lost that additional support almost as soon as he gained it, thanks to his administration’s refusal to rescind the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia despite his facing an investigation.

Yoon’s approval ratings took a further hit after a recording leaked of presidential aide Hwang Sang-moo suggesting at a private press luncheon that critical reporters at MBC could meet the same fate as a dissident journalist who was stabbed by political operatives in southern Seoul in 1988.

The DP also put the president on the back foot by railroading a special counsel probe bill against first lady Kim Keon Hee for her acceptance of a luxury Dior bag from a Korean American pastor, alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and the rerouting of a planned motorway over land owned by her family.

Now faced with the electoral consequences of his administration’s gaffes, Yoon’s key allies have begun to jump ship.

In addition to offers to resign from Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and other presidential officials, PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon, who served as Yoon’s justice minister but often clashed with the president as party chief, has also announced his intention to step down in light of the PPP’s resounding defeat.

“The public opinion is always right,” said Han during a press conference on Thursday. “On behalf of our party, I apologize for not being chosen by the people. I solemnly accept the meaning behind the results. I take full responsibility for the election results and will resign from my post.”

The departure of the president’s erstwhile right-hand man and losses by his favored candidates in the election all but formally sealed the end of his grip on the PPP.

Of the president’s staunchest allies who stood in parliamentary races, only a few, such as former party leader Kim Gi-hyeon, won in their districts.

Others, such as former North Korean defector Tae Yong-ho and Cho Su-jin, who sit on the PPP’s government-friendly Supreme Council, lost their contests.

The party is set to be run by floor leader Yun Jae-ok until it holds a new leadership contest.

The only consolation for Yoon and the PPP is that conservatives won just enough seats — 108, plus three won by former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok’s Reform Party — in the 300-member National Assembly to deprive the DP and other liberal parties of building a 200-seat supermajority, which would allow them to override presidential vetoes and even possibly impeach the president.

But even with 175 seats, the DP can continue to stymie the president from pushing his agenda of controversial domestic reforms, hold up budgets and appointments and fast-track contentious bills without consulting the PPP.

The DP will likely be aided in its opposition to Yoon’s presidency by the Rebuilding Korea Party, founded by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, which won 12 out of 46 seats selected by proportional representation.

The chief of the Rebuilding Korea Party shares much in common with DP leader Lee: both claim a politically meddlesome state prosecution service has unfairly targeted them, and their joint victory at the polls bolsters their argument that they have a mandate to rein in what they describe as Yoon’s “dictatorship by prosecutors.”

Cho was a rising political star under former President Moon Jae-in until the state prosecution service in 2019, then led by Yoon, launched an investigation into allegations that he and his wife had falsified their children’s academic credentials to give them a leg up in university admissions. Both were later convicted.

Observers say that his political return — or resurrection, even — could herald the beginning of a new phase in liberals’ pursuit of revenge against Yoon.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]