South Korea's Yoon administration starts third year with low approval rating and thorny road ahead as opposition party attacks

According to a poll released by the South Korean polling company Gallup Korea on the 10th of this month, President Yoon Seok-yeol's approval rating has reached 24% in his second year in office.
His approval rating two years into his term was the lowest of any president since democratization in 1987. In the general election on the 10th of last month, the ruling party supporting the Yoon administration suffered a major defeat. Until then, the administration had been run in a "self-righteous" manner.
President Yoon, who was criticized for being too timid, declared after the election that he would "take a more humble and flexible stance, communicate more closely, and listen to the will of the people."
Although he is showing signs of strength, the opposition party is stepping up its investigation into allegations surrounding the government and Yoon's wife, and he is likely to be forced to navigate a difficult situation given his low approval ratings.
Yoon was elected in the March 2022 presidential election and was inaugurated as the 20th president of South Korea on May 10 of the same year.
It was expected that he would break with the established political conventions and take a pragmatic approach that was not bound by ideology. Yoon's approval rating reached 52% in the second week of the same month, just after he took office, but three months later, in August,
In the first week, it had fallen to 24%. Last year, it generally remained in the 30% range. The general election on the 10th of last month was positioned as a mid-term evaluation of the Yoon administration, but the ruling party that supports the Yoon administration, the People Power Party, won first place.
The People Power Party suffered a major defeat, with the Democratic Party of Korea winning 175 seats and the largest opposition party, the People Power Party, winning 200 seats. The opposition parties are now in a position to pass a bill to amend the constitution or impeach the president.
Although he did not win the election, he will continue to hold the lead in the political situation. Yoon's administration has been criticized as being "self-righteous." However, following the major defeat, cooperation with the opposition party is more important than ever.
On the 29th of last month, Yoon met with Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, at the Blue House. It was the first meeting between the two since the Yoon administration took office.
Since taking office in August 2022, Lee has repeatedly proposed a meeting with Yoon, but Yoon has not responded.
After the meeting, the presidential office said, "This is the first step towards political cooperation through communication with the opposition party.
However, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Korea commented, "We had high hopes, but we have not seen any change from President Yoon. His assessment of the situation is too easy, and we are concerned about the future of national politics."
The two leaders agreed to continue holding dialogue in the future, but the extent to which Yoon will give in to the various demands made by Lee during the meeting is expected to be the key to future developments.
Then, on the 9th of this month, Yoon held a press conference in the Presidential Office, just before the two-year anniversary of his inauguration the next day. This was Yoon's first official press conference since August 2022, and he emphasized the shift to a "dialogue-oriented" approach.
Yoon expressed regret over the People Power Party's crushing defeat in the general election, saying, "The government's efforts to improve the lives of the people were insufficient."
He said that he would place emphasis on improving the economy during his term. The content of the press conference was evaluated differently by the ruling and opposition parties, with the People's Power Party praising it, saying, "We were able to hear his honest and candid views on all pending issues."
The Democratic Party of Korea sharply criticized the speech, saying, "It was filled with self-praise that no one in the country can sympathize with." Yoon's approval rating was 1.2% in a Gallup Korea survey conducted after the general election (April 16-18).
The lowest approval rating since then was 23%. And the results announced on the 10th of this month (the survey was conducted on the 7th and 9th) two years after he took office were 24%. According to Gallup Korea, the approval rating of the second year after he took office was 24%.
The approval rating is said to be the lowest of any president since democratization in 1987. The previous lowest approval rating was 28% for President Roh Tae-woo (February 1990).
The most common reason for not being in favor of the economy, national living standards, and prices (19%) was "lack of communication" (15%), followed by "arbitrary and one-sided" (7%).
The press conference held on the 13th, just before the two-year anniversary of President Yoon's inauguration, was held on the final day of the survey, so it cannot be said that the survey fully reflected public reaction to the press conference.
But Yoon will start his third year in office under harsh public scrutiny, and with the opposition parties, which hold a majority of seats in the National Assembly, stepping up their pursuit of various issues, the road ahead is likely to be thorny.