South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in about six months, dragged down by his response to leaked documents that purportedly showed the US spied on its ally.
(Bloomberg) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in about six months, dragged down by his response to leaked documents that purportedly showed the US spied on its ally.
Support for Yoon dropped 4 percentage points to 27% in a weekly tracking poll released Friday by Gallup Korea. Disapproval of the president’s performance increased by 4 percentage points to 65%.
In the poll, diplomacy was the factor most mentioned in both positive and negative assessments of Yoon’s performance, the research company said. The issue took on greater relevance after documents in US media reports indicated the US spied on Yoon’s office, while the government in Seoul has tried publicly to downplay friction with its American ally.
A New York Times report claimed the US had been eavesdropping on allies, including South Korea, with regard to their plans to support Ukraine with weaponry. The South Korean government has a policy of not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, but the documents have led to interpretations suggesting Seoul is indirectly supporting Ukraine through the US.
Kim Tae-hyo, a top South Korean security official, told reporters this week that Seoul and the US agreed that a significant portion of the documents relating to the two allies had been fabricated. Kim said the countries’ defense ministers had spoken by phone and their views were aligned.
Yoon is set to go to Washington for a state visit in less than two weeks, where President Joe Biden is likely to seek the help of the South Korean leader in imposing sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chips equipment to China.
The policy is aimed at preventing China’s progression in a range of cutting-edge technologies that could threaten America’s status as the world’s preeminent power. The move by its main security ally, the US, has put South Korea in a bind. China is the country’s biggest trading partner and South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. both depend on China as a key market and a manufacturing site for their memory chips.
Yoon has been an advocate of Washington’s Asia strategy, including Biden’s initiative to restructure global supply chains to reduce dependence on China.
In pursuit of this goal, Yoon has proposed a resolution for a long-standing dispute over compensation for Japan’s use of Korean forced labor during its 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula. However, the proposal, which entails South Korean firms paying into a compensation fund for conscripted Korean workers, has been met with disapproval by the majority of the South Korea public, polling has shown.
South Korea’s political opposition has been critical of Yoon’s administration over the deal with Japan and the leaked documents. Democratic Party head Lee Jae-myung and floor leader Park Hong-geun have urged the Yoon administration to request relevant information from the US about the leaks and have called for an apology to prevent any recurrence in the future.
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