Continuous 'Seolhwa' Yoon Seok-yeol, Will He Boost the 'Red Team' and Recover Approval Ratings After Returning from Vacation?

Looking Back on Controversial Actions
Refraining from External Events Until the 9th Due to COVID-19 Impact

"He Is Also Upset and Self-Critical"
Korea Gallup, Approval Rating in the 10% Range After 6 Months

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Can former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who returned after a four-day break, quell the 'controversies'?

According to Yoon's campaign on the 7th, Yoon has been on vacation from the 5th to the 8th.

Even during his vacation, Yoon met with former Prime Minister Chung Hong-won on the 5th. On the 6th, he was scheduled to visit the Chungnam Asan Hyeonchungsa Shrine and the Yoon Jeung Old House. However, after visiting the National Assembly on the 2nd and coming into contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case, the Chungnam schedule was completely stopped. Although Yoon tested negative for COVID-19, he plans to refrain from external events until the 9th following the quarantine authorities' recommendations.

The campaign stated that during the vacation period, Yoon plans to rest and reorganize. He intends to take a cold, objective look back at his political activities over the past month since his political declaration on June 29. Yoon has been embroiled in moral controversies due to the so-called 'in-law risk,' and has been repeatedly criticized for issues such as '120-hour workweeks,' 'civil unrest,' 'contaminated food,' 'healthy feminism,' and 'Fukushima nuclear wastewater.' He was also criticized for appearing 'arrogant' due to sitting with his legs excessively spread.

Accordingly, the campaign plans to create a so-called 'Red Team' to address the revealed weaknesses. Shin Ji-ho, a former lawmaker who served as the political affairs chief in Yoon's campaign, said on BBS Radio's 'Park Kyung-soo's Morning Journal' the day before, "During the vacation, he needs to take some distance from hot issues and have a comfortable time to reflect on himself. The candidate is very upset and seems to be blaming himself as well." He added, "Such incidents can happen once or twice, but if they continue, there will be no excuse. Therefore, we want to turn this into an opportunity to strive harder, and within this campaign, we plan to create a so-called Red Team to prevent recurrence in advance."

Will Yoon be able to recover his approval ratings through this reorganization? After joining the People Power Party, Yoon's approval ratings seemed to rise slightly but have shown a negative trend. According to a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from the 3rd to the 5th of this month targeting 1,001 adults nationwide aged 18 and over (confidence level 95%, margin of error ±3.1 percentage points), Yoon's approval rating dropped 6 percentage points from the previous survey (conducted June 29 to July 1) to 19%. This is the first time since his resignation that his approval rating has fallen into the 10% range. Detailed information can be found on the Gallup Korea or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission websites.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.