Koreans, who boast of being "the best in the universe", have finally begun to reflect.
Recently, South Korea lost to Saudi Arabia by a vote of 29:119 and missed the bid to host the 2030 World Expo. This is not a big deal, and it is normal for bids to fail to host major international events, such as the last major sporting event hosted by South Korea, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which also won the right to host it three times.
"Busan is ready", so what?
The problem this time is that the Yoon Suk-yeol government has been overwhelmed in the early stages, and according to their predictions, South Korea will perform well in the first round, enter the second round with a close score, and achieve a headwind. Unexpectedly, it lost completely in the first round, and there was no need to go to the second round, and Saudi Arabia won more than 2/3 of the votes.
Of course, the South Korean government will not admit its defeat, and vaguely hints that it intends to fight again in 2035. South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-so also said that although the results were not satisfactory, South Korea also gained valuable experience and diplomatic assets as a result.
We dare not say, and we dare not ask, how precious is the affirmative votes of the 29 countries? After all, there are more than 29 "democracies" that share the values of freedom as South Korea. Yoon Suk-yeol has always been proud of being pro-Western, and now it seems that he has made a mistake after all.
Some time ago, the media made a statistic that Yoon Suk-yeol has visited 16 times in a year and a half since he came to power, on average almost once a month, if you count the visit records of other government officials and business people, South Korea has walked nearly 20 million kilometers during the bid for the World Expo, which is equivalent to more than 490 circles around the earth, which is about the same as the sales of Xiangpiaopiao milk tea at its peak in 163 years.
Presidential couple traveling at public expense
As a result, everyone has seen that there is a high probability that only these countries visited by Yoon Suk-yeol personally voted in favor, plus some small Western countries that only the United States obeyed, and finally barely managed to make up 29 votes.
Not to mention, most of the countries that Yoon Suk-yeol visits each grand visit coincide, such as the United States and Japan, especially Japan, since the beginning of this year, Yoon Suk-yeol and Kishida Fumio have met seven times, although South Korea and Japan are separated by a sea of blood, it does not prevent the leaders of the two countries from going in both directions.
The funniest thing is that Japan did not vaguely express its intention to support South Korea until a few days before the vote, and it was not announced by senior officials of the Kishida government in person, but through the media, for fear of causing a little misunderstanding to the outside world.
There are even comments that Japan was originally going to vote for Saudi Arabia, but Yoon Suk-yeol has paid too much to improve South Korea-Japan relations, and he is embarrassed to save their face.
Yoon Suk-yeol: So love will disappear, right?
Who says it isn't, South Koreans see how hard Yoon Suk-yeol works to curry favor with Japan, from paying World War II labor compensation on behalf of Japan, to the president taking the lead in eating seafood to endorse the Fukushima nuclear wastewater, which one is not crazy on the bottom line of public opinion?
According to a recent poll in December, Yoon's approval rating has slipped for three consecutive weeks, to 32 percent. This level is slightly better than Kishida, which has fallen below 30% of the "dangerous waters".
More and more South Koreans believe that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "values-based diplomacy" is making South Korea increasingly isolated internationally, and he may not realize that the United States and Japan are not the whole world, and that relations with the vast African, Latin American, Oceanic, and Central Asian countries still need to be carefully maintained.
As early as June this year, various circles in South Korea warned the government that even China and the United States, which have different values, will engage in dialogue for the sake of national interests, instead of resolutely not playing together if they have different ideas, just like children playing at home.
Yoon Suk-yeol sings "Apple Pie" with full open mic
Especially now in the midst of major changes unseen in a century, the international situation is changing every day, and the slightest carelessness can lead to conflicts in hot spots, and it is far from enough to think about building good relations with the United States and Japan.
Just like during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, South Korea did not have territorial disputes with Russia like Japan, and simply to follow the United States, it joined the sanctions against Russia.
However, a look at South Korea's history shows that Yoon Suk-yeol is the norm, and Moon Jae-in is the exception. South Korea has had a tradition of "big things" since ancient times, which means that small countries preserve themselves by serving big countries, and in ancient times, they were attached to the Central Plains Dynasty, and after World War II, they were attached to the United States.
Although South Korea tried its best to abandon the "big thing" doctrine after the founding of the country, believing that it was humiliating when it was not strong enough in the past, in fact, they have not been able to escape the "peninsular character" of arrogance and inferiority. Coupled with the deep-rooted huddle culture in South Korean society, it is difficult for them to understand the value of sovereign independence, and they would rather act as the mouthpiece of the strong than try to become oneself.
Bowing its head in front of the United States, it can't lift itself up in front of other countries
In the end, I couldn't help but complain: It's all 2023, why is South Korea's "Shenbo" promotional film soundtrack still using "Gangnam Style"?