NYT: "President Yoon's Investigation of Moon Is a Political Tool and Gamble"

President Yoon Suk-yeol is seeing off former President Moon Jae-in after the inauguration ceremony of the 20th president held at the National Assembly on May 10./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Recently, foreign media have analyzed the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's decision to classify the repatriation of North Korean defectors as a crime and launch an investigation.

On the 22nd (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported that South Korea's new president is urging investigations into past governments.

It mentioned the 2019 incident involving the repatriation of North Korean fishermen. Currently, the key issue in this case is whether the fishermen's intention to defect was genuine. There are also conflicting claims about whether two North Korean fishermen actually killed 16 people.

In response, the NYT reported that Choi Young-beom, the presidential office's chief spokesperson, criticized, "The essence of this matter is, of course, that South Korea should have accepted and handled the North Korean fishermen according to our laws, but they were sent back to death as the North wanted." It also stated that the Yoon administration is politicizing this case by alleging human rights violations by the Moon Jae-in government.

In particular, it mentioned that some conservative groups have requested the prosecution to investigate former President Moon on charges including murder and abuse of power. The NYT predicted that if the prosecution acts on this request, former President Moon will become another president under investigation.

Professor Ahn Byung-jin of Kyung Hee University told the NYT regarding this, "This is a political tool." Professor Ahn criticized, "Yoon's political thinking remains stuck in his days as a prosecutor," adding, "He views politicians as potential criminals."

Additionally, the NYT reported the Democratic Party's criticism that President Yoon, conscious of his recent declining approval ratings, is reinvestigating this case to cast doubt on former President Moon's legacy.

It also conveyed that President Yoon denied political motives, saying, "Investigations into previous governments are routine in South Korea." However, the NYT pointed out that such investigations into former presidents could be a gamble for President Yoon.

The reasons cited include that President Yoon was elected by a narrow margin, and his approval ratings have significantly dropped due to issues related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee, ministerial appointments, and the economy affecting people's livelihoods. The article also listed examples where President Yoon overturned major policies of the previous administration, such as nuclear policy and South Korea-Japan relations.

Meanwhile, although President Yoon's approval rating decline has recently halted, negative evaluations have surged. According to a regular poll released on the 22nd by the polling agency Gallup, the percentage of people who think President Yoon is "doing well" in his administration remained at 32%, the same as last week. However, those who think he is "doing poorly" rose by 7 percentage points from 53% last week to 60%. This marks the first time since his inauguration two months ago that President Yoon's negative evaluation has reached 60%.

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