Yoon Seok-yeol Enters Strong Defense Mode... Analysis Suggests 'Failure to Draw a Clear Line'

Major Presidential Bid Faces Biggest Crisis in Just Over Two Months
Name Will Inevitably Be Mentioned Until All Doubts Are Completely Cleared
Rapidly Rising Support for Hong Joon-pyo Also a Burden

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, is answering questions at a press briefing held at the People Power Party Gangwon Provincial Office on Geumgang-ro, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon Province, on the 9th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is going through his biggest crisis phase just over two months after declaring his presidential bid. When suspicions arose that he might be involved in the suddenly surfaced 'prosecution request' allegations, former Prosecutor General Yoon chose to 'face it head-on' and entered a strong defense mode. So far, there is no direct or indirect evidence that former Prosecutor General Yoon ordered or tacitly approved the prosecution request. It is still unclear whether the prosecution actually requested the prosecution. However, with former Prosecutor General Yoon's approval ratings recently declining and his intra-party competitor Representative Hong Joon-pyo rising, being mentioned in such negative issues inevitably becomes a burden.

A member of former Prosecutor General Yoon's campaign said in a phone call on the 10th, "Just looking at what has been disclosed so far, I think it is an operation from start to finish." Spokesperson Kim Byung-min also stated on YTN radio that day, "Political attacks based on false information are continuing, and we will try to clarify the clear truth about this issue."

Former Prosecutor General Yoon voluntarily held a press conference on the 8th, strongly criticizing the allegations as a 'political operation,' and for now, seems to have succeeded in 'distancing himself from the issue.' However, until the allegations are completely resolved, his name will inevitably continue to be mentioned, leading to analyses that he has failed to 'draw a clear line.' This is because the content of former Prosecutor General Yoon's press conference was more along the lines of "there is no reason to give such an order" rather than a clear message like "I swear I never did such a thing." Um Kyung-young, head of the Sidaejeongsin Research Institute, said, "Whether he fights an all-out war or clearly proves his innocence, he needs to be more intense." Former Prosecutor General Yoon's side also launched a 'Special Committee for the Truth Investigation of Political Operations' on the 8th, mainly composed of legal experts, but has not produced any clear results in two days.

Meanwhile, a separate situation that is holding back former Prosecutor General Yoon is Representative Hong's rising momentum. Although Representative Hong's rise has been a continuing phenomenon separate from the prosecution request controversy, the recent acceleration can also be seen as reflecting the disappointed votes of those who supported former Prosecutor General Yoon. According to a survey conducted on the 7th and 8th by MBN and Maeil Business Newspaper together with polling firm R&Search, targeting 1,035 men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, Representative Hong scored the highest at 36.5%, while former Prosecutor General Yoon recorded 26.5%, trailing outside the margin of error. The margin of error for the R&Search survey is ±3.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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