South Korea’s Legislative Election: What Went Wrong for the PPP?
The leadup to the election saw President Yoon Suk-yeol embroiled in a series of damaging incidents. His party paid the price.
Yoon Suk-yeol
In South Korea, President Yoon’s Lame Duck Era Officially Begins
The Democratic Party (DP) won a landslide victory again on Wednesday, signaling South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s lame-duck status for his remaining three years in office. Out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, the DP won 175 seats, while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) won 108. Adding other seats won by opposition parties … Read more
South Korea’s President Meets Leader of Doctors’ Strike, Seeking End to Walkout
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met the leader of a strike by thousands of junior doctors on Thursday and said that the government is open to talks about its contentious push to sharply increase medical school admissions. The meeting was the first of its kind since more than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 trainee … Read more
South Korea’s New Ambassador to Australia Is a Scourge for the Ruling Party
On March 10, South Korea’s new ambassador to Australia, Lee Jong-sup, hightailed it past airport security hours before journalists arrived. He was naturally all the more perplexed when accosted by a reporter right at the boarding gate. “Why do you have to do this?” Lee asked as the reporter trailed behind him on the walk … Read more
South Korea’s Press Freedom Under Fire
If you think the notion of news manipulation and censorship is relegated to the dark annals of authoritarian regimes, it’s time to reconsider. A closer look at the unfolding narrative in South Korea paints a disconcertingly different picture. The actions of the current administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol have cast a long shadow over press … Read more
South Korea in Political Disarray Ahead of the April Parliamentary Elections
South Korea’s zero-sum game politics has turned into a political quagmire over the so-called “Kim Keon-hee risk,” involving the first lady’s receipt of a Christian Dior bag. Ironically, the scandal has become a leadership test not only for President Yoon Suk-yeol and the ruling People Power Party (PPP), but also for the main opposition Democratic … Read more
President Yoon Finally Addresses the First Lady’s Dior Pouch Controversy
A Lunar New Year special exclusive interview of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol aired on February 7. It was pre-recorded, leaving ample room for editing. The talk was more or less a rehashing of questions the public was already familiar with. Still, it offered a rare glimpse into not just the interior of the presidential … Read more
South Korean President Reiterates That Seoul Will Not Seek Its Own Nuclear Deterrent
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated that the country would not seek its own nuclear deterrent in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea as he vowed further efforts to sharpen nuclear deterrence strategies with ally United States. In a pre-recorded interview with KBS television that aired Wednesday night, Yoon insisted that South Korea … Read more
Relitigating the Past: How to Overcome Recent Court Cases and Strengthen the Japan-South Korea Relationship
Fall down seven times, get up eight. This Japanese proverb about resilience also applies to Japan’s relationship with South Korea. After a 2018 ruling by the South Korean Supreme Court set off a diplomatic spiral within Japan-South Korea relations, 2022 saw a dramatic improvement in bilateral ties. Since then, numerous meetings between Japanese Prime Minister … Read more
Preventing a Worst-Case Scenario on the Korean Peninsula
The year 2024 has kicked off with a series of troubling escalations on the Korean Peninsula. For the first time since 2017, Pyongyang and Seoul have resumed provocative artillery drills in the West Sea – a flashpoint that has escalated into deadly military clashes in the past. North Korea also reached a major accomplishment in … Read more