The powers that be in the so called People's Power Party decided to bring independent but leading conservative candidate for president Yeon Seok-yeol into the party as their candidate on Friday when the new nominal leader of the party Lee Jun-seok was out of town. It was regarded as poor timing in the news cycle and something of an unexpected event taking place near the weekend. It may be that the party elders didn't see much competition for Yoon on the conservative side, and wished to take advantage of what is now becoming a somewhat destructive power struggle within the democratic party between their two leading candidates, Lee Jae-myung, and Lee Nak-yeon.
It's fairly clear at this point, in the democratic party race, that Lee JM is the populist candidate on the left, and that Lee NY is the centrist candidate representing the traditional neoliberal interests. One might even be able to say that Lee JM is South Korea's Bernie Sanders to Lee NY's Joe Biden. In any case, although Lee Jae-myung is ahead of Lee Nak-yeon in the polls, there is the prospect that any substantial misteps by Lee JM could result in the presentation of Lee NY as a formidable centrist candidate in the democratic party, relatively indistinguishable from a conservative representing special interests in the opposition PPP. This prospect presents the further risk of potential leakage of conservative votes away from the PPP candidate to a more recognizable, experienced, and "reliable" democratic candidate who in essence is quite conservative. On the other side, the possible conservative PPP candidates, alternative to Yoon Seok-yeol, appear currently to have little depth in terms of public support.
In any case, an early adoption of Yoon presents some advantages, giving the appearance of a united team on the conservative side in contrast to the blood letting in the democratic party. Oddly, the adoption of Yoon as a PPP candidate, occurred without the apparent participation Lee Jun-seok, the new PPP party leader, allegedly representing the disaffected under forty male vote. This was something of a shock. Yoon met with Lee for beers and chicken after the surprise announcement to repair the damage. It had been widely suspected that Lee had no actual power in the party, and now we can be sure of it. He just symbolizes the popular mysogyny among South Korea's economically dissatisfied and socially frustrated young males. The PPP hoped to profit off this prejudice. One of Lee Jun-seok's current proposals favored by young South Korean males is to get rid of South Korea's department of women and families.
In the process of meeting Lee and others over the last several days, certain personal characteristics have become apparent concerning Yoon, which are less than desirable from a public relations point of view. As a senior prosecutor, and then as Prosecutor General Yoon has become accustomed to speaking unguardedly with the press. Any gaffes or mistakes he had made, could reliably be expected to either be omitted in reporting or deleted by the editors in the conservative dominated mainstream South Korean media. In the past, the former prosecutor's comments would be limited to the legal issues at hand, rather than a broad range of policy. After a career as prosecutor, the law is something with which he is presumably familiar. Now, as far as affairs beyond investigation or litigation, Yoon appears not to be ready for prime time.
Getting back to his personal attributes, in last few days, Yoon was observed drinking alcohol during the daytime at political lunches. This included his meeting with Lee Jun-seok, where in keeping with the chi-mek youthful affectation of that lunch meeting, Yoon drank five or six beers. At other daytime meetings for political purposes Yoon was observed drinking soju, a potent liquor. Observers have pointed out, that drinking during the day, isn't something that is the custom during a political luncheon or meeting, and the first drink is somewhat customary with serious talk to follow. Some reports speculated that Yoon's off hand comments that have offended some recently perhaps were the result of alcohol induced lack of caution. One saying going around on some independent media on the left is "another day, another gaffe;" and another, "Yoon, problems of his own creation." One critic compared Yoon's noted fondness for drinking to rumors about the ineffectual Park Geun-hye, who was later impeached. It was said that she had a habit of drinking and sleeping during the day, while others ran the Blue House. Pundits have noted that Yoon's appearance and behavior apparently need to be carefully managed or he will lose more votes. Naturally, democrats are looking forward to it. So Yoon's application to enter the PPP was accepted before he could do further damage to his prospects. Other Yoon critics feel that investigations of the multiple allegations of corruption against Yoon and his family will inevitably bring him down.
Yoon's far more substantial problems, the PPP has somehow chosen either to overlook or bind together to overcome. Fortunately for them they have the horsepower of the mainstream media behind them. There are currently at least five investigations pending against Yoon or his wife or mother in law for various forms of suspected corruption. Yoon's mother in law was recently sentenced to three years in prison for a medical fraud scheme involving a convalescent business she was not medically licensed to operate. There are other pending investigations of her and Yoon's wife. Among other things the two are suspected in an alleged insider stock price manipulation scheme involving Deutsche Motors. Yoon himself is being investigated for allegedly stonewalling the Optimus Fund scandal and interfering in the investigation of a public official. He is also allegedly involved in covering up the improper prosecution of former prime minister Han Myeong-sook. It is widely suspected that Yoon's marriage itself was the product of a pattern of behavior by his wife and mother in law to curry favorable treatment by prosecutors in investigations or litigation pending against them. The latter allegation primarily falls into the category of scandal because the statute of limitations has probably expired on many of the alleged underlying offenses.
Ironically, the more superficial criticism about Yoon concerns his unbecoming appearance in public. A flaw affecting his public image is his apparent neck twitch when he gets nervous or challenged with a critical question. The second is his posture where he slouches when sitting and spreads his legs apart with his stomach protruding over his belt. The impression given is, that in less than an entirely formal appearance, Yoon presents an attitude of arrogance or disrespect. One conservative politician remarked "keep your knees together," and noted Yoon needs "preparation" for public appearances. Other critics have observed that Yoon's casual appearance suggests an indolent life style and poor health rather than fitness for a demanding office like the presidency.
With respect to gaffes, it appears that Yoon has only the most superficial knowledge of economics, the everyday life of ordinary South Koreans, and the history or legacy of South Korea's independence fighters and its democratic movement. Yoon declared his presidential campaign at the Yoon Bong-kil Independence Memorial, on June 29. Yoon Bong-kil was an independence fighter who in 1932 carried out a plan to kill Japanese imperial government officials in Shanghai. He was sentenced to death by a Japanese military court. In his candidacy announcement policy presentation, Yoon derisively criticized the current administration's policy toward Japan by referring to it as a biased, ideologically driven, "singing of the bamboo spear song" (against Japan)*. It seemed a particularly inappropriate setting for such comments and a historically incorrect characterization. Yoon went on to call for putting all pending issues with Japan on the table in a "grand bargain." This, as if the current government were somehow at fault for not caving into Japanese economic coercion. That coercion by the way has failed with South Korean semiconductor producers having replaced their Japanese materials suppliers. One wonders how Yoon will put aside South Korean judicial decisions on reparations for Japanese forced labor crimes by their corporations during WWII in a "grand bargain" with a condescending and derisive Japanese government. Perhaps Yoon will put the judges and their families under investigation and simply blackmail them to avoid the separation of powers in a constitutional government. A professional disciplinary board found not too long ago that Yoon had unlawfully placed judges under investigation before. This episode was reminder of Yoon's brazen and directly confrontational style which may not serve him well politically although voters on the right find it appealing.
*edit note- bamboo spear song ( 동학농민혁명 및 항일 의병을 소재로 한 노래 '죽창가' ) is a reference to the Tonghak reform movement and independence movement fighters in Korea motivated by the oppression of the Korean people by Japanese invaders and occupiers in league with corrupt Korean collaborators. The historic irony here is stunning. Yoon Seok-yeol is a parody of this historical motif. He is symbolically calling out to foreign powers to support him. See 죽창가 또 올린 조국…"尹, 日정부와 유사한 역사의식 경악, " Yonhap News 7.30.21, 김동호 기자 ; https://namu.news/article/1312747#gsc.tab=0
Yoon recently alluded to Milton Friedman free market principles when asked about regulating inferior quality (adulterated) food products. This brought up discussion of the famous New York v. Lockner case in the US, and whether Yoon was not a throw back to an earlier time. Yoon expressed the opinion that it would be preferable for less fortunate people to buy this food, rather than regulate it. Yoon's explanation of why he is against a proposal regulating the excessive work hours to a 52 hour work week limit in South Korea was ridiculously insensitive. Leaving almost 120 hours outside the work environment for employee personal use was too much in Yoon's opinion. Yoon commented that working 120 hours would be better. He appears to be against any disaster relief payments to the public in general due to the economic hardships of the pandemic. In another gaffe, Yoon blamed declining South Korean birth rates on "feminism." Finally, Yoon stated he regrets his role in the prosecution of the impeached former president Park Geun-hye, which was probably the only positive element of his undeserved reputation as a prosecutor who has "fought corruption."
Democratic observers are hoping that despite the circular firing squad at work in their own party, greater public exposure of the "real Yoon," will cause his campaign and that of the PPP candidate whoever it may eventually become, to self destruct and ultimately result in victory for their candidate in March 2022.
8.5 addendum: Hol Seu-yong's discussion on the absurd nature of Yoon's comments, is that they are premeditated and designed to stimulate heated discussion on social media, particularly among the so called "il be" community. In this way remarks although appearing to be stupid "gaffes" by reasonable observers, will reverberate in the digital world, and generate publicity for Yoon through their in own unique way of creating momentum. In this sense, whether intentional or not, Yoon appears to be following a strategy similar to Trump's in the US on broadcast media, on twitter, and at public appearances.
No comments:
Post a Comment