After Yoon Suk-yeol was ruthlessly rejected by the G7 again after his crushing defeat in the previous parliamentary election, it attracted criticism from opposition parties and South Korean media.
South Korea was excluded from the G7 summit held in Italy in June, and Yoon Suk-yeol's office said it respected the decision. And this is undoubtedly a blow to South Korea, which has been seeking to be a global pivot country. It also marks the failure of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's so-called "G7+ diplomacy" diplomatic strategy.
The defeat of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has been met with a comprehensive attack from various opposition parties. To sum up, all opposition parties believe that this is the result of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's unilateral pro-U.S.-Japan diplomacy at the expense of its foreign policy toward China.
South Korea's GDP will fall to 14th place in 2023, which is not good news for South Korea compared to 2022. After Yoon Suk-yeol came to power, he pursued a pro-US and flattering foreign policy, made China-related remarks, interfered in the internal affairs of the mainland, and caused a decline in Sino-South Korean relations, and at the same time assisted Ukraine, offended Russia, conducted joint military exercises with the United States on the border between North and South Korea, and allowed US aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines to dock in South Korean ports, which made South Korea-North Korea relations tense, and Yoon Suk-yeol offended China, Russia and North Korea, the three neighboring powers.
This unilateral foreign policy eventually backfired South Korea, and South Korea's economic data was just one of them, and South Korean companies' market share in China fell further. In addition, according to South Korean politicians, Yoon Suk-yeol has long sent his henchmen to Italy for public relations, hoping to get an invitation from the G7 countries. However, the result was brutal, and the Italian side, which holds the rotating presidency, rejected South Korea.
Since 2020, South Korea has been invited to the G7 summit three times, and its Chinese Jae-in has participated in 20 and 21 years, and last year, Yoon Seok-yue was invited by Japan to participate in the summit, but this year was rejected by Italy. Not being invited for 22 and 24 years is a major blow to Yoon Suk-yeol, first losing the parliamentary election, and in the next two years or so, Yoon Suk-yeol is destined to become a "lame duck president". Now that the G7 summit has been rejected again, South Korean media and opposition parties have collectively bombarded Yoon Suk-yeol.
Although Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating is not very good, and the opposition does not treat him very well, South Korea was not invited, which is also a failure of South Korea's diplomacy, and for South Korea, which has strong self-esteem, it is inevitable to reflect on it. Then the question is, who should bear this responsibility, think about it, that is President Yoon Suk-yeol, after all, it is your diplomatic strategy that makes South Korea difficult.
Previously, Yoon Suk-yeol was unilaterally pro-US and pro-Japanese, and tense relations with China, Russia and North Korea made it so that in the South Korean parliamentary election on April 11, Yoon Suk-yeol's ruling party was defeated, only winning 108 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, and more than 8 seats away from being impeached, as for Lee Jae-myung's opposition coalition won 175 seats, with an absolute advantage, the ruling party's defeat in the general election is also the first time in South Korea since the popular election, and Yoon Suk-yeol's future presidential term is destined to be constrained in the National Assembly, and the decree is difficult to implement.
After losing the election, Yoon Suk-yeol needed to find someone to take the blame, so a number of senior officials, including the prime minister and the secretary general of the presidential office, resigned en masse. Yoon Suk-yeol's incompetence has been blatantly exposed by the South Korean media, with even former President Moon Jae-in saying that this is the first time in 70 years that he has seen such a poor government.
Yoon Suk-yeol's diplomacy is poor, his domestic affairs are mediocre, and South Korea's economy itself is sluggish, and inflation remains high. Yoon's hope to increase popular support through the reform led to a medical reform that caused many doctors in South Korea to leave their posts and march in the streets to protest against Yoon's health care reform. A few days ago, Wall Street wanted to replicate the Asian financial turmoil in 97 and 98 again, and the exchange rates of Japan and South Korea fell very badly, and this time South Korea was bled again, which is bound to make the Yoon Suk-yeol government, which is not high in its own approval rating, more passive.
Recent polls show that only 23% think Yoon Suk-yeol is good, and 68% of people give Yoon Suk-yeol a bad evaluation.
If you want to find the reason, it is that Yoon Suk-yeol has offended China by his unilateral pro-American and flattering foreign policy. In early April, Lee Jae-myung openly attacked the Yoon Seok-yue government at a rallying campaign: Why should you offend China? What is the relationship between Taiwan and South Korea? Lee Jae-ming believes that it is Yoon Seok-yue's pro-US and anti-China campaign that has caused South Korean companies to continue to decline their market share in China, and Chinese are reluctant to travel to South Korea. This has led China from South Korea's largest trade surplus to its largest deficit, all because of Yoon.
It is Yoon Suk-yeol who cooperates with the United States to contain China, which makes Korean companies lose a lot in China, losing the most populous market and the world's second largest economy, plus South Korea's industrial structure is highly overlapping with China in addition to semiconductors. Previously, South Korea's proud shipbuilding industry has long been overtaken by China, and now as long as China's semiconductor industry is out of the encirclement, not only South Korea's semiconductors will be finished, but also European and American semiconductors will all have to play.
Objectively speaking, South Korea, as a small country, is deeply influenced by the United States politically, economically, diplomatically, and militarily, and it can even be said that it lacks autonomy, and some diplomatic positions are understandable. But it should be understood that the most taboo of geopolitical and economic factors is to turn to one side in an all-round way and become a pawn in the game of great powers. Can South Korea intervene in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea?
Although Yoon Suk-yeol lost in Congress, South Korea's overall foreign policy will not change much, Yoon Suk-yeol is pro-American and flattering Japan, but was ruthlessly rejected by the G7, and today's backlash is just the beginning, as far as his wife's affairs are concerned, it is estimated that the opposition party will definitely hold on to it, and whether it can escape the president's "curse" in the future is only a matter of two words.
Resources
Embarrassed! Not invited to the G7 summit, the Yoon Suk-yeol government was violently criticized by public opinion in South Korea
South Korea was excluded from the G7 summit, South Korean opposition party: focus only on the consequences of relations with the United States and Japan Observer.com