ed Park's arrogance

More people turning their backs on President

The latest Gallup survey shows that President Park Geun-hye's approval rating has plunged to 26 percent, the lowest since she took office in 2013.

The survey shows that even staunch supporters ― people in their 50s and 60s and people in the southeastern Yeongnam region ― are starting to turn their backs on the President. In Seoul, only 18 percent of respondents said Park was doing a good job. The poll shows people’s growing frustration toward the President's governing style and her administration’s failures, particularly on the economic front.

It is regrettable that Cheong Wa Dae had nothing to say about the waning support for Park except to say that it will not “dwell on approval ratings.” This kind of arrogance and aloofness to public opinion is exactly the reason that more people are viewing Park negatively.

Cheong Wa Dae should seriously consider the implications of the continued dip in the President’s job approval rating, which comes on the heels of snowballing corruption scandals surrounding Cheong Wa Dae in the twilight of Park’s presidency. The 20 percent-range approval rating is considerably lower than during some of the most serious setbacks of Park’s presidency, such as the defeat of her Saenuri Party in the general elections in April.

After the April 13 election, her approval rating was still 43 percent, but it has continued to slide since because she has repeatedly refused to respond to the people’s wishes.

In the survey, the major reasons for the growing negative assessment of Park were economic incompetence and lack of communication.

From the perspective of average citizens, Park’s biggest fault lies with not doing a good job to improve the people’s livelihoods. The low approval rating is a result of the Park administration’s incompetence in generating quality jobs and building a stronger economy with long-term policies.

The nation’s youth in particular are facing one of the worst unemployment crises since the late 1990s, but the Park administration’s job creation policies have not yielded visible outcomes.

As a result, the unemployment rate among people under 29 has remained mostly in the 10 percent range throughout the year after hitting an all-time high of 12.5 percent in April. Since the beginning of her term, the job situation has worsened across generations, while taxes have soared. If she continues her disregard for improving the people’s livelihoods, she will continue to lose support.

Another big reason that has alienated the people is the President’s refusal to accommodate public opinion. The people expect more transparency from a president who has placed a fight against corruption at the top of her priority list since she took office.

She angered the people by not responding sincerely to corruption allegations involving her key aides, only brushing the claims off as "slander and unchecked exposes."

The public’s trust in the integrity of her administration has been severely undermined by a series of scandals. In particular, many people have been disappointed by the decades-long connection between Choi Soon-sil, a daughter of Park's late mentor Choi Tae-min and the ex-wife of Park's former aide Jeong Yun-hoe, and the President, and Choi’s undue influence in the Park administration.

Cheong Wa Dae should admit that the plunging approval rating means something is seriously wrong with the way Park is doing her job and that more people are becoming fed up with her arrogance and ineffective leadership. Park needs to remember that without the people on her side, her presidency will be remembered as a failure.