For South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, the "midterm exam" can be regarded as a dismal ending.
In the 22nd National Assembly election that ended on April 11, the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and its satellite parties won 175 of the 300 seats, winning a landslide and maintaining their position as the largest party in the National Assembly. President Yoon Suk-yeol's ruling People's Power Party suffered a crushing defeat.
Such an election result means that the South Korean government and the ruling party will face more obstacles from the opposition parties for the remainder of Yoon's presidency.
As soon as the election results came out, a number of senior government officials, including South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-so, collectively resigned in a hurry.
For a time, the Yoon Suk-yeol government was like a reed in the wind, crumbling.
Officials of the Central Election Management Commission of South Korea count the ballots for the 22nd National Assembly election.
Congressional elections are fraught with chaos.
In fact, the South Korean parliamentary system is a "masterpiece" of learning from American-style democracy.
South Korea's parliamentary elections are held every four years, and each voter casts two votes at the same time, one for the candidate in his or her constituency and one for the party he supports.
Political parties are vying for a total of 300 seats in the National Assembly, and the election results will directly determine the dominance of the National Assembly in the next four years, and will also affect the pattern of the next presidential election, so it is the focus of competition among all parties in South Korean politics.
In this year's "parliamentary election," the ruling and opposition parties are not competing for a blueprint for governance and a policy vision, but for exposing each other's ugliness and maliciously attacking each other. The whole election campaign was chaotic and could be called a "contest of ugliness".
The ladies overturned one after another.
In September last year, South Korea's first lady Kim Keon-hee received a Dior bag worth 3 million won from the pastor Choi Jae-young, which caused an uproar after the incident was exposed, and then disappeared for nearly 4 months, and was absent from the major event of South Korea's "March Day" for the first time.
Screenshot of the video of Kim Keon-hee, the wife of the President of South Korea, receiving a Dior bag.
In February this year, South Korean prosecutors accused Kim Hye-kyung, the wife of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, of violating the Public Office Election Act by entertaining six party officials including party officials of the Democratic Party of Korea at a restaurant in Seoul during Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign, spending 104,000 won.
Party members took the opportunity to make money.
In May last year, Kim Nam-ju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, was suspected of taking advantage of his position to illegally obtain information for virtual currency investment and obtain a large amount of money, and was finally forced to quit the party.
In February, South Korean media reported that Chung Woo-taek, a member of the People's Power Party and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, was finally canceled from his nomination for the National Assembly in October 2022 on suspicion of accepting political funds from a coffee shop owner.
The bigwigs are lined with hills.
In December last year, Lee Jun-seok, the former leader of the People's Power Party, angrily announced his resignation from the party and the establishment of a new party because of a conflict of interest with party bigwigs.
In January this year, Lee Nak-yeon, the former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced that he would quit the party and form a new party, believing that the Democratic Party of Korea had become Lee Jae-myung's "one-man party."
In March, former South Korean justice minister Cho Kook founded the Fatherland Reform Party, vowing to make Yoon Suk-yeol "a lame duck first, then a dead duck" during the election campaign. In this parliamentary election, the Fatherland Reform Party successfully won 12 seats.
Campaigns are full of surprises.
What's more, when Lee Jae-myung attended an event in Busan in January this year, he was attacked by opponents who "cut his throat" and cut off 60% of his internal jugular veins, and the reason for the assassination was to prevent "the Democratic Party of Korea from gaining a majority in the National Assembly."
The moment of the assassination of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea's largest opposition party.
Zhang Ri, a member of the People's Power Party, was taken to the hospital after attempting to self-immolate in protest after losing the party's nomination list.
It can be seen that South Korea's election wins or loses does not depend on who does more good deeds for the people, but on who plays fewer "ugly shows".
The end of the election will not reverse the chaos.
Although the opposition party won and South Korea maintained a "small and large" situation, it is foreseeable that Yoon Suk-yeol will continue to struggle with the support of the United States.
The struggle between political parties has intensified.
It is clear that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has fallen into a "lame duck" dilemma.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is bound to use his seat advantage in the National Assembly to launch a fierce attack on the Yoon Suk-yeol government, such as pushing the National Assembly to pass the "Kim Keon-hee Special Prosecution Law" and the "Itaewon Special Law", and even initiating impeachment against Yoon Suk-yeol.
And the People's Power Party led by Yoon Suk-yeol will definitely do everything in its power for the next presidential election, dig deeper and bottomless to dig out the "black material" of the opposition parties, and even "black hands" on key figures of the opposition parties.
It is difficult for the economy and people's livelihood to improve.
Since Yoon Suk-yeol came to power, he has been "pro-American supremacy" and "aesthetic obedience", and has "politicized" and "instrumentalized" economic issues, causing domestic inflation, soaring prices, and boiling public resentment in South Korea.
Although the opposition party won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, it still has limited impact on the tone of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, and the prospects for South Korea's economy and people's livelihood are not optimistic.
The South Korea-US alliance will not change.
Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the third "Global Summit for Democracy" in a high-profile manner, cheering for the pro-US Yoon Suk-yeol and the People's Power Party, in an attempt to increase the support of the ruling party in South Korea. (See also this article, "Two Presidents Who Are About to Be Ousted by "Democracy" Have Joined Forces to Hold a "Summit for Democracy")
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the third Global Summit for Democracy in South Korea.
Although the People's Power Party suffered a crushing defeat in the congressional elections, the United States still controls South Korea's economic and military lifeline.
After the opposition party wins a majority of seats, it is obvious that it will not openly argue with the United States.
So, regardless of the outcome of the election, the ROK-U.S. alliance will continue to exist.
The situation on the peninsula does not allow for optimism.
Although the ruling party will be on the weak side of the National Assembly in the future, with the United States backing Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea and the United States will not stop taking joint military exercises against North Korea, economic blockade, and public opinion attacks.
In order to consolidate his ruling position, Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to play up the "North Korean threat" and even take the initiative to escalate the situation and lobby the South Korean people to support his hardline policy toward North Korea in order to increase his own approval rating.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is likely to continue to escalate, and the risk of conflict will further intensify. (See also the article ""Same Race" Becomes "Different Race" ??!!)
All in all, no matter how lively the South Korean election is, in the final analysis, it is just a "ugly show" manipulated by beautiful countries behind the scenes.
The political chaos in South Korea shows that the Western-style democracy that has been rigidly copied is obviously not adapted to the local conditions in East Asian countries. Before Yoon Suk-yeol, almost all South Korean presidents had not died well.
Although Yoon Suk-yeol moved out of the Blue House, the "Blue House curse" still does not seem to have been broken. Judging from all indications, Yoon Suk-yeol estimates that it will be difficult to die well in the end......
The pictures in the article come from the Internet