What matters more than practicing golf

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What matters more than practicing golf

Published: 18 Nov. 2024, 19:48 Updated: 18 Nov. 2024, 23:01

Lee Ha-kyung
The author is a senior columnist of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Economist recently shared sage counsel from American officials and diplomats for foreign leaders on ways to “avoid Oval Office humiliation” when they confront President Donald Trump. Those with lengthy experience with Trump advise that “flattery has its uses, but it is not a silver bullet.”

Flattery alone doesn’t move Trump, one diplomat said, as he “is not an idiot” and cannot be “seduced” into changing his mind. One official said that Trump considers leaders to be powerful if they lead important countries and have the political authority to turn decisions into actions. Among those whom Trump took seriously were Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Trump loathed politicians who didn’t live up to their promises — such as French President Emannuel Macron whom Trump found “snobbish” despite being treated with steak and ice cream at the Eiffel Tower.

Whether Trump will place South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in the “likeable” group is doubtful. Yoon may not be able to keep his promises due to the hostile legislature dominated by the opposition. Yoon is said to be practicing golf, which he had neglected for eight years, to ready for “golf diplomacy” with Trump. The main opposition castigated the president for playing golf during the Korea-U.S. military drill even before Trump’s election victory was declared. It is uncertain whether Yoon can muster bipartisan backing from the National Assembly against Trump’s possible actions.

The majority Democratic Party (DP) won’t offer any help to the government when its boss Lee Jae-myung is sitting on a powder keg due to his ongoing four trials. The Seoul Central District Court last week handed him a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years. The bench delivered a heavier-than-expected sentence to Lee for misguiding voters with lies and undermining the principles of democracy. If his prison term is confirmed in the higher courts, he won’t be able to run in the 2027 presidential election. Given the recent ruling, Lee will likely be found guilty in the first ruling on the charge of subordination of perjury due on Nov. 25.

The DP is readying a counterattack. The arrest of self-proclaimed “power broker” Myung Tae-kyun offers a timely opportunity to go after first lady Kim Keon Hee for meddling in a by-election to field Kim Young-sun as the candidate of the governing People Power Party (PPP). The presidential office claimed the president cut contact with the power broker after Yoon won the PPP primary to run in the 2022 presidential election. But just a day before taking office, president-elect Yoon was heard ordering the PPP’s nomination committee to choose Kim, according to a disclosed phone conversation.

The presidential couple is entirely cornered. To break the deadlock, they must accept a special probe on the scandals related to the first lady. Yoon must accept an independent counsel probe and free himself from the never-ending political brawl. But unfortunately, Yoon doesn’t seem to have control over his wife. The solution lies with the first lady herself. She had said that she wished she could just disappear to let her husband be judged for himself during the election. She could use the special probe to prove her innocence.

Yoon didn’t make time for Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of Trump, when he visited Korea in August. That reminds us of the dreadful results of former President Park Chung Hee cold-shouldering former U.S. vice president Richard Nixon during his visit to Korea in 1966. Park only squeezed out teatime with Nixon. Two years later, Nixon became the president, and held summit talks with Park in California in 1969. The meeting took place after the Nixon Doctrine was declared, prescribing Korea to be “in charge of its own security.” But Nixon didn’t tip Park that his administration was planning to downscale U.S. troops in Korea. It was Nixon’s payback. If Yoon had resisted partisanship, he could have met Trump Jr. who has a big influence over his father. It’s a pity Yoon had wasted the chance.

Golf skills may impress Trump, but Yoon needs to tend to strengthening his presidential authority if he really wants to avoid humiliation and advocate for national interests. Yoon must first accept a special probe on his wife. The opposition will become cooperative if public sentiment turns favorably toward Yoon. If the president pushes back accountability until he retires, he will invite greater suffering. The presidential couple must decide before it’s too late.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.