Yoon blows off DP motion to dismiss foreign minister

Foreign Minister Park Jin, center, speaks to reporters at the government complex in central Seoul Friday, a day after the liberal Democratic Party (DP) approved a motion for his dismissal. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk-yeol officially rejected a legislative motion calling for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Park Jin passed by the Democratic Party (DP) last week.

Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential press secretary, issued a statement Friday evening saying that earlier that day, the presidential office was notified of the motion for dismissal by the National Assembly and confirmed, "President Yoon said he would not accept the motion."

On Thursday evening, the DP passed the motion in a plenary session boycotted by Yoon's People Power Party (PPP) and the minor progressive Justice Party. It called for Park to take responsibility for Yoon's diplomatic tour last month, including the president's embarrassing hot mic moment in New York. The motion was not legally binding on the president.

The DP and the PPP differed on whom to blame for Yoon's hot mic moment where the president was recorded using foul language while speaking to aides at a fundraiser hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in New York on Sept 21, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The PPP blamed MBC, the initial broadcaster of the footage, for purportedly misreporting Yoon's remark and the DP for trying to harm the Korea-U.S. alliance for political gain. The DP labeled Yoon's three-country trip to Britain, the United States and Canada last month a "diplomatic disaster" and urged the president to apologize for his blunders.

The presidential office said multiple times that Yoon made no mention of Biden or the U.S. Congress in his private remark and had instead been referring to the Korean National Assembly. It also said that the White House understood and accepted this explanation.

Yoon previously signaled he would not accept the DP motion when he described his foreign minister as a "remarkably capable person" to reporters Thursday.

While the motion has been ignored by Yoon, its snub could have political repercussions as the DP holds a supermajority in the National Assembly and as parliamentary audits begin this month.

Following the hot mic incident, Yoon's approval rating plummeted to 24 percent, according to Gallup Korea's latest poll Friday, down four percentage points from the previous week. This is the lowest since 24 percent in the first week of August at the height of controversy over personnel appointments and chaos in the PPP leadership.

The poll was conducted on 1,000 adults from Tuesday to Thursday, and 65 percent of respondents said Yoon was not doing a good job running state affairs, up 4 percentage points from the past week.

According to the poll, 17 percent of respondents cited diplomacy as the reason for their disapproval, 13 percent said lack of experience and qualification, 8 percent said gaffes and 7 percent said neglecting economic and livelihood issues.

Foreign Minister Park also pushed back against the motion and told reporters at the Foreign Ministry Friday, "The opposing party is denigrating the president's tour as a diplomatic disaster, but I cannot agree with that."

He said that diplomacy is one area where national interests needs to be prioritized and focused on Yoon's achievements in attending the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London, addressing the UN General Assembly, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Biden in New York and economic achievements in Canada.

He continued, "Now is not the time to fight, but the time to think about national interest."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]