South Koreans Aren't Over the Moon for Their Current President
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right) met with North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un (left) at the Korean DMZ in June (Image)
Current South Korean President Moon Jae-In inherited a domestically charged political environment from former conservative president Park Geun-hye. As the daughter of former South Korean President and dictator Park Chung-hee, the previous president’s policies were all unsurprisingly conservative. Her presidency is mainly known for being plagued by corruption and scandals such as requiring state authored Korean history textbooks in schools, the National Intelligence Service manipulating information during the 2012 presidential election, her inept response to the tragic Sewol Ferry incident and, most famous of all, Choi Soon-sil gate. All of these scandals led to led to mass demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of South Koreans holding candlelight vigils and protests at Gwanghwamun for months demanding Park’s impeachment. She was impeached by the Korean National Assembly in March 2017 and sentenced to 24 years in prison for her corruption charges. Current president Moon Jae-in then won the surprise June 2017 presidential election that followed.
President Moon is a fairly liberal politician as far as Korean politicians go, and his administration has already implemented a number of socially and economically liberal programs, including increasing the minimum wage and raising taxes, lowering the maximum work week from 68 hours to 52 and reforming chaebol conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai. However, his domestic policies have received poor responses thus far. Rising minimum wages and taxes have forced small businesses to close, while retail, manufacturing and construction sector companies have had to cut jobs, resulting in higher levels of unemployment. A decline in exports has also contributed to South Korea’s slowing GDP. Recently, Moon has also faced backlash after the emergence of various allegations concerning his Justice Minister, Cho Kuk. Mr. Cho has been accused of a variety of ethical and financial wrongdoings, and, after a month of heated protests, resigned last Monday.
President Moon’s foreign policy started out successfully, but progress on the global front has now also started to stall. Jae-In, following in the footsteps of his presidential predecessors Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung, has always upheld that South Korea should have positive relations and open communications with North Korea. His shift back to the days of the Sunshine Policy (South Korea’s DPRK policy based on reconciliation and cooperation) is a stark departure from Park and her right leaning predecessor’s hard-line approach towards their northern neighbor. Moon has been the first sitting South Korean president to visit Pyongyang, organized three inter-Korean summits in 2018, sent joint sporting teams to international sporting events, and initiated two US-North Korea summits, additionally accompanying U.S. President Trump when he crossed the DMZ into North Korea to meet Kim Jong-un earlier this year. Moon has also expressed interest in reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a special economic zone in North Korea where a joint business venture between the South Korean government and companies and the North Korean government. While President Moon had very high approval ratings in early 2018 following his historical summits between North and South Korea, he has since experienced a drop in popularity. This decline can be attributed to stalling talks with North Korea, who launched a submarine ballistic missile on Oct. 2, coupled with a bleak economic outlook and controversy over cabinet officials led to his approval rating dropped to an all-time low of 44.4 percent last week.
Despite declining popularity, Moon still has three years left of his five year presidency, and, due to the South Korean Constitution having one five year term limits on presidents, doesn’t have any concerns regarding re-election. With the U.S. presidential election approaching, it is also possible that he might not have to grapple with President Trump’s ever-shifting North Korean foreign policy any longer. Although, since the DPRK’s relations with the U.S., South Korea’s ally, greatly affect inter-Korean relations, it’s possible that a different U.S. president might make Moon’s reconciliation policy towards North Korea even more difficult. Regardless, he still has to grapple with South Korea’s domestic issues: a bleak economy, high unemployment levels, and scandal within his own administration.