ED Loss of public trust

President should reflect on policy blunders

President Moon Jae-in enters his fifth and last year in office Monday, but he is in no mood for a celebration due to the loss of public trust in his administration. Regrettably, he is not receiving high scores for his performance as the country's head of state.

His approval rating hit a record low of 29 percent at the end of last month, according to a Gallup Korea poll. This means more and more people are withdrawing their support for Moon, especially after the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) suffered a crushing defeat in the April 7 mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan.

The gloomy mood has been caused by his policy failures. Moon promised to usher in a fair and just society when he took office in May 2017 following the impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye over a massive corruption and power abuse scandal. But his administration has moved in the opposite direction by trying to protect corrupt officials and politicians, while going all-out to eliminate the “old evils” of the previous government.

An increasing number of people are turning their back on the Moon administration which is becoming more hypocritical than ever. In a word, President Moon has yet to meet the public's mounting calls to build a better society and restore democratic values; and many now argue that the current government is virtually no different from the corrupt and incompetent Park administration.

Moon has made little effort to bring real change to the nation. He wasted time and effort, “taming” the prosecution to prevent it from investigating his confidants, including former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, over allegations of bribery, election fraud and influence-peddling. His government also tried hard to cover up its data manipulation aimed at closing an aging nuclear reactor earlier than planned to push for his nuclear phase-out policy.

In addition, the President has reneged on his promise to cooperate with the opposition. The DPK has not hesitated to railroad many controversial bills through the National Assembly by using its supermajority. It has neglected to create bipartisanship with the main opposition People Power Party over important issues ranging from national security and diplomacy to the economy and public health.

The Moon government and the DPK have failed to stabilize the overheated housing market. They have focused too much on suppressing demand with restrictions on mortgages, and higher taxes on homeowners. They have also been negligent in their efforts to create jobs and improve living standards. As a result, the income and wealth gap between the rich and the poor has widened.

Now Moon needs to reflect on his policy blunders. He should not repeat the same mistakes he has made over the last four years. First of all, he must restore the value of fairness and justice to win back the hearts and minds of the people. Then he should come up with new policies to bring runaway housing prices under control, defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, stabilize people's livelihoods, and speed up economic recovery. Otherwise he cannot avoid becoming a lame-duck president.