"Shift of Moon Supporters to Lee Supporters" vs "Strengthening of Yoon Regime Change Theory"... Tense Battle Over Public Opinion Amid Controversy on Deep-rooted Corruption Investigations

"Moon Government Investigation Intent Worst Midway"
"Lee Jae-myung's Efforts to Differentiate Become Futile"
"Ultimately, It Will Be a Fight Without a Winner"
Predictions Vary on Impact on Presidential Race

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Na Joo-seok] As President Moon Jae-in expressed anger over People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol's remarks on the ‘investigation into deep-rooted evils,’ attention is focused on the impact this will have on the presidential race with less than a month remaining. Experts agree that the unprecedented clash between the incumbent president and the main opposition party’s presidential candidate has the effect of rallying both ruling and opposition party supporters, and they concur that it is highly likely to influence the centrist voters as well. The political sphere continued a two-day-long battle, interpreting the clash between President Moon and candidate Yoon in a self-serving manner.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Experts analyzed that the president’s direct involvement is being perceived by both ruling and opposition party supporters as a ‘call for total mobilization.’ The effect of consolidating the core supporters is considerable. Kim Bong-shin, CEO of Metavoice and a public opinion survey expert, cited the National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted by Embrain Public, K-stat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research from the 7th to 9th of this month, surveying 1,007 men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, to analyze the possibility of an increase in support for candidate Lee. On the 11th, Kim said, “Among respondents who have had a positive evaluation of President Moon (43%), one-third did not support Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, and their support was dispersed,” adding, “If only 10% of President Moon’s supporters rally behind candidate Lee due to this controversy, it could lead to a rise in support by around 4%.” According to the NBS released the previous day, candidates Lee and Yoon were tied at 35% support each.

Professor Park Sang-byeong of Inha University’s Graduate School of Policy also emphasized the possibility of the centrist voters drifting away from the opposition party. Professor Park pointed out, “President Moon is the first president in constitutional history without a lame-duck period,” and added, “Declaring an intention to investigate even this government is perceived as the worst by the centrist voters.” He criticized, “While the investigation into deep-rooted evils may be refreshing news to supporters, centrists see it as an outdated story,” and said, “They talk about constitutional amendments or unification to end retaliatory politics, but this seems to be going against that trend.”

Conversely, there is also analysis that President Moon’s intervention will create a favorable terrain for candidate Yoon. Professor Shin Yul of Myongji University’s Department of Political Science and Diplomacy said, “Candidate Yoon’s remarks on investigating deep-rooted evils were intended to rekindle the momentum for regime change, but the Blue House’s reaction ended up helping him,” and analyzed, “As a result, the public opinion favoring regime change among centrists grows stronger, potentially shifting support toward candidate Yoon.” This suggests that public opinion supporting regime change could consolidate. There is also analysis that supporters who do not back President Moon but have supported candidate Lee may defect. Political commentator Lee Jong-hoon said, “Centrists or undecided voters who felt favorable toward candidate Lee may move to candidate Yoon,” and analyzed, “With President Moon stepping to the forefront, candidate Lee has been pushed to the sidelines, rendering his efforts to differentiate himself from the current government ineffective.”

However, there is also analysis that as both ruling and opposition parties’ support bases consolidate, the result will ultimately be a ‘no-win battle.’ Political commentator Yoo Chang-sun said, “The ruling party is conscious of the rallying effect of ‘protecting President Moon’ and is making this issue a point of contention, while the opposition party can consolidate public opinion favoring regime change based on support for judging the Moon administration’s deep-rooted evils, so the mutual advantages and disadvantages are not significant.”

In the political sphere, a battle of words continued on the day over candidate Yoon’s remarks on investigating deep-rooted evils and President Moon’s demand for an apology. People Power Party lawmaker Sung Il-jong appeared on CBS Radio’s ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ and said, “When they (the Moon administration) said they would investigate deep-rooted evils, they claimed it was not political interference, but now the president himself stepping in to overturn an unfavorable situation is political interference,” raising his voice that “the president should apologize.”

On the other hand, Woo Sang-ho, head of the Democratic Party’s general election campaign headquarters, said in an interview on the same broadcast, “Candidate Yoon’s remarks themselves were so shocking that the president’s response came out,” and demanded an apology from candidate Yoon, saying, “You keep politically interpreting and distorting the essence of this issue without properly understanding it, but this is not something that can be overlooked.”

The Blue House has shown no further response since demanding an apology through a senior official the previous day, saying, “If he apologizes, it will be over.” Candidate Yoon had already stated the previous day, “Our President Moon Jae-in and I share the same view (law and principle-based, no sanctuary investigations),” and “The word political retaliation does not exist in Yoon Seok-yeol’s dictionary,” and seems reluctant to escalate the situation, feeling burdened by the president stepping fully into the election front.

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