Afrigather SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing on Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his spouse that’s severely hurting his approval scores and offering political munition to his rivals.
The political firestorm coincides with South Korea dealing with a slew of important overseas coverage points, corresponding to Donald Trump’s election win to develop into the subsequent president of the US and North Korea’s reported entry into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The scandal facilities round allegations that Yoon and first girl Kim Keon Hee exerted inappropriate affect on the conservative governing Individuals Energy Occasion to choose a sure candidate to run for a parliamentary by-election in 2022 on the request of Myung Tae-kyun, an election dealer and founding father of a polling company who carried out free opinion surveys for Yoon earlier than he grew to become president.
For weeks, the scandal has been making headlines in South Korea as Myung’s leaked cellphone conversations present he boasted of his affect over the presidential couple and different high governing get together officers.
Requested about his ties with Myung throughout a information convention Thursday, Yoon mentioned, “I didn’t do something inappropriate and don’t have anything to cover relating to Myung Tae-kyun.”
Yoon mentioned he has by no means meddled in any candidate nomination course of on the PPP, and had by no means requested Myung to hold out surveys for him, although he acknowledged that Myung gave him some form of assist throughout his presidential main marketing campaign in 2021.
The primary liberal opposition Democratic Occasion mentioned Yoon’s response solely confirmed his “vanity” and “self-righteousness.” The get together earlier demanded that Yoon apologize, reshuffle high officers and settle for an impartial investigation into his spouse.
The Democratic Occasion just lately shared what it mentioned was an audio file of cellphone calls between Yoon and Myung on Might 9, 2022 — a day earlier than Yoon took workplace for a single five-year time period. The opposition get together alleges that the dialog proves Yoon supplied Myung with political favors in return free of charge surveys.
Within the audio file, Yoon will be heard telling Myung that he requested a PPP committee to choose senior get together member Kim Younger-sun to run for one of many parliamentary by-elections the next month. Kim Younger-sun finally obtained the get together’s nomination and gained the election.
Within the file, Myung is heard saying, “I actually gained’t neglect this favor for my whole life. Thanks!”
South Korea’s election regulation bars public servants, together with the president, from interfering in elections, however applies no such restrictions to a president-elect, so it’s unclear whether or not Yoon violated the regulation.
Latest surveys confirmed Yoon’s approval score has fallen under 20% for the primary time since his inauguration. Kim Keon Hee has been grappling with different scandals, corresponding to spy digital camera footage purportedly displaying her accepting a luxurious bag as a present from a pastor.
Yoon apologized for inflicting public considerations about him and his spouse, however burdened that most of the allegations raised weren’t per the details.
Some governing get together lawmakers have accused the Democratic Occasion of intentionally ramping up political assaults on Yoon and his spouse in an effort to rescue its embattled chief, Lee Jae-myung, from authorized troubles.
Lee, a firebrand lawmaker who narrowly misplaced to Yoon within the 2022 presidential election, is present process 4 separate trials over corruption and numerous different allegations. The primary two district courtroom rulings on Lee over his election regulation violation and perjury expenses are set for Nov. 15 and Nov. 25.
Both a jail sentence or a fantastic of greater than 1 million gained ($750) within the election regulation case would unseat Lee as a lawmaker and disqualify him from working in elections for 5 years, though he’s prone to attraction any responsible verdict.
Surveys present Lee is the early favourite for the 2027 presidential race to succeed Yoon.
On overseas coverage, Yoon — who has labored intently with Washington and Tokyo to solidify safety cooperation within the face of North Korean threats — expressed optimism that the three-way partnership will proceed to develop underneath Trump’s authorities. He mentioned he desires to fulfill Trump and new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba quickly to coordinate insurance policies.
Throughout his earlier presidency, Trump engaged in extremely orchestrated nuclear summits with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un. Yoon famous that North Korea’s arsenal has considerably superior since Trump’s diplomacy with Kim collapsed in 2019.
Yoon mentioned Trump “will probably be receiving complete studies very quickly about how North Korea’s nuclear applied sciences and capabilities have modified since then.”
“After he receives these studies, I feel we are able to have extra significant and in-depth discussions when we’ve the chance to fulfill,” Yoon mentioned.
When requested about considerations that Trump’s “America first” strategy would injury South Korean pursuits in commerce by elevated tariffs and different measures, Yoon mentioned Seoul was making “multifaceted efforts to reduce the losses to our individuals’s economic system.”
“Issues can’t be precisely the identical as they had been through the Biden administration,” he mentioned, “however we’ve been getting ready to hedge these dangers for a very long time.”
Earlier Thursday, Yoon had a phone name with Trump, congratulating him on his election win and discussing strengthening bilateral cooperation. The 2 agreed to rearrange an in-person assembly quickly, in response to Yoon’s workplace.
Reuters
Reuters
