(Adds the missing word “to” in the first paragraph)
By Hyonhee Shin and Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – After rising to power through hardline and sometimes combative policies, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol may need to rethink his style if he wants to protect his legacy and his party after a crushing election defeat.
Yoon, elected to a single five-year term in 2022, is facing increasing criticism, including from some members of his own party, for maintaining a tough stance on a series of explosive issues and scandals in the lead-up to Wednesday’s election. in which the opposition bloc led by the Democratic Party (DP) retained its control in the National Assembly.
Critics accused Yoon of failing to build on the initial popularity of his People Power Party (PPP), launched by its leader Han Dong-hoon, by repeatedly rejecting their advice on several issues, including over Bribery allegations against the First Lady.
Since the start of his term, the president has also refused to meet DP leader Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the closest presidential election ever and is facing corruption charges.
The president has also taken a hard line against protests and labor strikes and has been accused by human rights activists of using the legal system against critics.
“The public’s message is loud and clear, President Yoon, you must change,” said Rhee Jong-hoon, a conservative-leaning political analyst. “They need to talk to the other side, meet the opposition leader and, if necessary, pass bills in coordination with the opposition.”
Lee Jun-han, a political science professor at Incheon National University, also urged Yoon to be more lenient, but both analysts said he may find it difficult to change.
“The hope of the media and voters may be that the president carefully examines the election results and makes future changes to the way the government is run,” Lee said. “The president’s leadership style is not so easy to accept these things.”
Yoon, a former prosecutor with no prior political experience, was dubbed a “gamecock” for his tenacity as a lawyer and courted by the conservative bloc after he demonstrated his unwillingness to compromise by filing bribery charges against a key adviser to outgoing President Moon Jae. in – the man who hired him.
Yoon said he would “humbly” accept the results of Wednesday’s vote, work to improve the economy and reform his government, with several top advisers, the prime minister and party leader Han offering to resign.
Following the vote, his office said the president would communicate more with the opposition.
“I wish things were handled more preventatively,” said a government official. “At times the response was a bit slow, which only made the problems worse, and that seems to have led to people turning against us.”
Another official admitted the results were worse than expected and would complicate the final years of Yoon’s government. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, both officials declined to be named.
Just weeks earlier, Yoon was improving in opinion polls largely due to his health care reform plan and the opposition’s infighting over nominations.
But as polls increasingly pointed to a clear victory for the opposition days before the election, some PPP members, including a candidate running in a key battleground area in Seoul, began calling for Yoon’s departure from the party, while others described those calls as premature dismissed.
“His way of dealing with contentious issues is straightforward and one-sided, offering no way out, and voters effectively vetoed the election,” said Kim Hyung-joon, a professor at Pai Chai University.
“The president should adjust his administration’s decision-making mechanism so that he can remain the final problem solver, leaving party leaders and ministers to resolve conflicts and find a solution first.”
Yoon Hee-woong, director of public opinion analysis at Opinion Live, said if Yoon wants to preserve a legacy, the election should be a wake-up call.
“Every president has the ambition to achieve a good record within his term in office,” he said. “And to gain public support, they cannot avoid calls for communication.”
(This story has been re-archived to add the missing word “to” in paragraph 1)