May 10 is the second anniversary of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration. On the 9th, Yoon Suk-yeol held a national report and press conference on the second anniversary of his inauguration at the Yongsan Presidential Palace, where he clarified his position on the direction and major issues of governance. This is the first time in 1 year and 9 months since Yoon Suk-yeol held a press conference on his 100th day of inauguration in August 2022.
In the 22nd National Assembly election more than a month ago, the ruling People's Power Party and its satellite parties won only 108 seats out of a total of 300 seats, and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea and its satellite parties, won a total of 175 seats, and the Yoon Suk-yeol government continued to fall into a "lame" situation. Since Yoon Suk-yeol came to power, he has been criticized by the outside world for his "tough style" and "lack of communication", and this time he was called "kicked to the iron plate".
On May 9, local time, in Seoul, South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol held a press conference on the second anniversary of his inauguration at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul. Source: Visual China
Dressed in a dark suit and red tie, Yoon Suk-yeol began the press conference, which was seen as a desire to change his image, save public opinion, and win the understanding and support of the people.
At the meeting, Yoon Suk-yeol responded to livelihood issues such as rising prices, low fertility and aging, as well as key issues such as the expansion and reform of medical schools. As expected, his wife Jin Jianxi's acceptance of brand-name bags has also become an unavoidable topic at the press conference. Contrary to his past statements on this matter, Yoon Suk-yeol apologized for the first time for his wife for accepting a brand-name bag at the meeting. "I would like to apologize to the public for my wife's unwise behaviour that has brought public attention," he said. ”
According to Yonhap News Agency, a relevant person from the presidential office revealed later on the 9th that "in fact, we did not expect the president to apologize", and the original plan was to only express "regret", and the word "apology" was not included in the speech prepared in advance. Aides also did not expect the president to use the word "apology" directly.
According to the report, it is understood that during the national report meeting and press conference preparing for the second anniversary of his inauguration, Yoon Suk-yeol held pre-meeting discussions with his staff many times, and did not mention "apology" at that time. However, at the press conference that day, the word appeared unexpectedly. This is the first time that Yoon Suk-yeol has apologized since the media reported that Kim Keon-hee had accepted a brand-name bag in November last year. Until then, the presidential administration had insisted that it was only a political offensive by the opposition against the ruling party.
Yoon Suk-yeol (right) and Kim Keon-hee (left)
In fact, Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Jian-hee, can be described as an "eventful lady". Since Yoon Suk-yeol ran for president of South Korea in 2022, the "first lady" has been exposed to scandals such as falsifying resumes, plagiarizing papers, and manipulating stock prices. Last year, Mr. Kim's mother was arrested for falsifying bank balances, the first time in South Korea's constitutional history that a president's mother-in-law had been arrested.
In November last year, a candid video exposed by South Korea's "Voice of Seoul" showed that Kim Jianxi accepted a Dior bag worth about $2,200 on September 13, 2022, from Choi Jae-young, a Korean pastor in the United States. The video was secretly shot by Choi Jae-young through the watch's built-in camera equipment. After the video was exposed, the South Korean presidential office has been low-key, although Yoon Suk-yeol's party has been asking Yoon Suk-yeol to come forward to explain, but Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Jian-hee have also been silent about the matter, but in the following two months, public opinion has become more and more noisy.
Yoon Suk-yeol officially responded in an interview with the media a few days ago, saying that this was a well-planned "political conspiracy". According to Yoon Suk-yeol, Choi Jae-young deliberately approached Kim Jian-hee for illegal candid photography, which happened in 2022, but it was exposed more than a year after the incident, with the intention of influencing the South Korean parliamentary election in April this year. Mr. Yoon said that Choi Jae-young, who claimed to be a fellow villager with Mr. Kim's late father, came to the door and insisted on a meeting, "The problem is that she couldn't refuse to meet ruthlessly." If that's a problem, it's a bit of a pity."
Korean media combed and found that since returning from a visit to the Netherlands with Yoon Suk-yeol on December 15 last year, Kim Jianxi has not appeared in public. She also did not appear during the New Year's holiday. Until the eve of the South Korean parliamentarian election on April 10, Kim Keon-hee, who has always been high-profile and active, has been out of the public eye for 117 days. The prolonged disappearance of the "first lady" has sparked heated discussions in South Korean politics. At that time, some Korean media believed that the "acceptance of brand-name bags" incident and the parliamentary election may have been the reason for Kim Jianxi's disappearance.
However, Kim Jianxi's "disappearance" for several months does not prevent the South Korean judiciary from investigating her. On May 4 this year, South Korea's prosecutor general Lee Won-seok requested a special investigation into the incident of South Korea's "first lady" Kim Keon-hee accepting brand-name bags. Prosecutors will also investigate South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's self-declaration or restitution. South Korea's Anti-Corruption Act stipulates that any public official who fails to report to the head of his agency after knowing that his spouse has received prohibited money or valuables will be sentenced to up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won.
Yoon Suk-yeol will visit the United States in April 2023, and the black leather bag in the hand of his wife Kim Jianxi is eye-catching, triggering a rush of ladies to buy. Source: South Korea's Office of the Presidential Office website
According to the results of a poll released by the South Korean polling agency "Korea Gallup" on May 10, Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for the administration on the second anniversary of his inauguration was 24%, the lowest approval rating among previous presidents in the two years after his inauguration. Regarding a series of ambitious goals put forward at the beginning of his presidency, Yoon Suk-yeol, who had just been defeated in the election of members of the National Assembly and was plagued by domestic and foreign affairs, seemed to be unable to hide his decline. Some Korean media commented, "Whether from the perspective of domestic affairs or diplomacy, for Yoon Suk-yeol, it can be said to be a 'two years of frustration'".
Now, Yoon Suk-yeol has three years left in his term and continues to face the "lame" situation of "going to Ono Dai". Yoon Suk-yeol had to put down his body and change his style, hoping to gain the understanding and support of the people. He took the initiative to apologize for the lady's brand-name bag incident this time, not so much sincerely, but as a last resort. After the fiasco in the parliamentary election, Yoon Suk-yeol also met with opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung for the first time since taking office, trying to resolve differences, but to no avail. Yoon's long-standing foreign policy and results have also been questioned, and he was not invited to the G7 leaders' summit in Italy in June. The frustration of domestic and foreign affairs and the future direction of Yoon Suk-yeol have worried supporters and attracted more attention from the outside world.
Author丨Fang Zhizhong, editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News
Editor丨Ye Junyan, Shenzhen Satellite TV News Editor