Have you noticed a rule: every time you take an exam, when the results are announced, some people will be happy and some will be worried.
In the past two days, South Korean politics has also experienced a large-scale "midterm exam".
The National Assembly is the highest legislative body in South Korea, and elections for members of the National Assembly are held every four years, and on April 10, voting for the 22nd National Assembly election officially began, and this election will elect 300 members of the National Assembly, which will require major parties to compete fiercely in 254 constituencies nationwide.
Soon the "results" were released:
According to the report of the Central Election Management Commission of South Korea on the morning of April 11, the counting of votes in the 22nd South Korean National Assembly election was completed.
What are the "achievements" of the parties?
Out of the country's 254 constituencies, the Democratic Party of Korea, the largest opposition party, won in 161 constituencies.
Of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, the opposition Democratic Party and the Democratic United Party hold a total of 175 seats, the ruling National Power Party and the National Future Party hold 108 seats, the Fatherland Reform Party holds 12 seats, the Reform and Reform Party holds three seats, and the New Future Party and the Progressive Party each hold one seat.
It seems that someone is going to laugh, someone is going to cry.
There is no doubt that "Brother Yin" Yin Xiyue is the one who cries.
I saw the Yoon Suk-yeol government make two moves:
First, he did not dare to speak out loud anymore, and Yoon Suk-yeol made a statement on the morning of the 11th, saying that he would humbly accept public opinion and carry out governance reforms.
Second, the old routine: bow, apologize, pat the ass and go.
On the morning of April 11, South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-so, the head of the Secretary of the Presidential Office, the director of the Policy Office and other senior officials collectively resigned.
Saying that resignation sounds good, it's not about being a "scapegoat"!
In this regard, Yonhap News Agency said that the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, won a landslide victory!
Obviously, this "midterm exam" Yin Xiyue smashed the exam, and it was not decent.
And Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, "played extraordinarily" and did well in the test, winning hemp.
In other words, why did Brother Yin take the exam so badly?
Let's first take a look at a common plant that has been pushed to the forefront in this parliamentary election.
That's green onions!
According to a report by the Korea Times on April 7, South Korea's Central Election Management Commission prohibits voters from bringing green onions into polling stations!
Everyone has a question mark on their faces: What kind of brain circuit is this?
Who will be idle and have nothing to do with green onions to vote?
Hungry and gnawing to satisfy your hunger?
Not really.
The commission stated that such acts were considered "politically motivated" and could violate the Law on the Election of Public Officials.
This is even more incomprehensible, can a green onion still have a "political motive"?
Not to mention, it's not so easy to get green onions in South Korea now!
Why?
Because it's expensive!
Some time ago, the price of vegetables and fruits in South Korea rose wildly.
On March 18, when Yoon Suk-yeol checked food prices at a supermarket in Seoul, he pointed to a pack of green onions priced at 875 won (1,000 won or 5.3 yuan) and said, "The price seems reasonable."
If it is about 5.3 yuan for a pound of green onions, it is indeed not expensive.
But what about the reality?
People found out that this green onion is actually a discount promotion item!
There are even reports that the supermarket changed the price in advance after knowing the news, which is proper formalism and fraud!
What is the truth?
In Korea, the average price of green onions is now more than 3,000 won!
It may not be felt that the Korean won is converted into RMB is 16 yuan a catty!
Good guys, a pound of green onions is more expensive than pork?
Grab the money!
After learning the truth, the people were angry, and the opposition parties also took advantage of this to make a fuss and launched an attack on Yoon Suk-yeol's ruling party.
On April 7, Lee Jae-myung angrily criticized the fact that he was not allowed to bring green onions into the polling places, which undermined the freedom and human rights of the people.
He also publicly stated: "It should be the Dior bag that should not be present in the election place." ”
Why do you say that? This remark is considered to be an allusion to the turmoil over South Korea's first lady, Kim Keon-hee, who is suspected of accepting Dior bags from outsiders.
The People's Power Party also went toe-to-toe, with Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the party's Emergency Countermeasures Committee (interim party leader), pushing back against various controversies over opposition politicians such as Lee Jae-myung and Cho Kook.
To make matters worse, data from Statistics Korea shows that in March 2024, fruit prices in the South Korean market rose by 40.3%, especially apples and pears, both of which soared, and vegetables rose by 10.9%, with tomatoes and green onions rising sharply.
Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in strongly criticized on April 1: "This is the first time in 70 years that I have seen such a bad government."
In fact, Yoon Suk-yeol also knows these predicaments and has worked hard.
For example, before the election, we tried to introduce a series of reform measures to win public opinion.
But this reform almost made Yoon Xiyue's own revolution "gag"!
In early February, the South Korean government introduced a health care reform to cater to voters, but the reform caused a strong resistance from the doctors' community, which led to a prolonged conflict between the medical and government and made it more difficult for people to see a doctor.
As a result, it played big and was out of control.
For more than a month, medical students and doctors have launched rounds of strikes and resignations, and the Yoon Suk-yeol government has fallen into a state of riding a tiger.
Far from boosting the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's approval ratings in the polls, the reform has only made it worse.
In addition, as Lee Jae-myung mentioned above, "Dior bag turmoil".
Brother Yin married a "good wife"!
Due to his wife, first lady Kim Jianxi's "brand-name bag" incident, as well as some "real estate fraud cases", "stock price manipulation cases", etc., Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating once fell below 30%.
Yoon Suk-yeol is also a "wife protector", the National Assembly previously passed a bill to investigate Kim Keon-hee's alleged stock price manipulation, and Yoon Suk-yeol did not hesitate to use the presidential veto power to veto the bill.
This move made him the president who exercised the most veto power except for former President Syngman Rhee, and faced huge political pressure.
Although on the day of the election, Jin Jianxi, the "pit man maniac" who had disappeared for a long time, also came out to show his support, but it could not change the situation.
In fact, the green onion incident, medical reform, and the "pit man madness" are all internal causes, and there are actually external causes.
South Korea's long-term foreign trade deficit cannot be reversed.
Because after the Yoon Suk-yeol government came to power, its foreign policy was derailed.
On the one hand, in order to confront China, it has built the so-called "Iron Triangle Alliance" of the United States, Japan and South Korea by supporting Japan's "humiliation diplomacy" such as Japan's nuclear sewage discharge into the sea and Japan's forced labor recruitment in World War II, and then cooperating with the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" of the United States. At the same time, he also interfered in the affairs of the Taiwan Strait in an inappropriate way to flatter his American masters, thus greatly deteriorating Sino-ROK relations.
On the other hand, the massive supply of military aid to Ukraine has led to a close paramilitary alliance between Russia and North Korea.
In doing so, it directly betrays South Korea's interests and disregards the feelings of the nation.
Now it seems that the election was lost, and it was this boomerang that came and suffered a backlash!
What will Yoon Suk-yeol face next?
This is the first time since the implementation of the direct presidential election system in South Korea in 1987 that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has been in a situation of "small and large" during the five years of its presidential term.
Since most of the policies pursued by Yoon Suk-yeol require the cooperation of legislation in the National Assembly, judging from the fact that the Executive Party has won seats in the new National Assembly, it is difficult for the South Korean government to pursue the policies it wants to implement to be endorsed by the National Assembly.
South Korean media commented that "Yoon Suk-yeol's remaining three years in office will continue to be constrained." ”
Others put it more bluntly: the ruling party's defeat in the congressional election would make the Yoon Suk-yeol administration a "lame duck."
Now, Yoon Suk-yeol can only wait for his answer.
This election will not only determine the leadership of the National Assembly for the next four years, but will also affect the pattern of the next presidential election.
It is clear that Lee Jae-myung's victory in this election once again proves the trust voters place in him while cementing his position as a favorite contender for the next president.
This election of members of the National Assembly is considered a "watershed" for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to govern, and will have a significant impact on the power structure of the National Assembly and the current government's national operations.
However, Brother Yin doesn't have to be too sad.
There is joy in sorrow!
According to the South Korean Constitution, if the ruling party wins less than 100 seats, it will be miserable, and the president will be in great danger of impeachment!
This time, Yoon Suk-yeol won 108 seats, "stepping on the line and passing"!
It is foreseeable that in the face of chaos in domestic and foreign affairs, the severe test faced by the "lame duck" president has just begun!
Finally, for the sake of the poor elements of "Brother Yin", give him a trick: instead of thinking of any tricks to confront public opinion, it is better to find a good way out for yourself, after all, being president in South Korea is a "high-risk profession", except for Moon Jae-in, the fate of previous presidents in South Korea is not very good.