Yoon vows to listen more closely to voice of public

President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a press conference marking the first 100 days of his presidency at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

President declines to comment on infighting inside ruling party

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed on Wednesday to listen more closely to the voices of the people expressed in public opinion surveys and to put himself in the shoes of others to figure out what has gone wrong with his presidency.

He made the remarks when asked about his unusually low approval rating during a press conference marking his first 100 days in office.

"I will try to figure out and accept the public's opinions that have been revealed in surveys. I will look thoroughly into all of the issues that have been brought up," he said. Yoon noted that he did not have enough time to check all of the requests voiced by the people since his inauguration, because there were so many urgent matters he had to address.

"I will try to figure out what has gone wrong with policies and other issues when they were implemented, and if there have been any problems in communication."

Yoon's 100 days as president have not been smooth. His approval rating has continued to slide since early June. His controversial Cabinet member picks contributed to the public's negative opinion of him.

In a poll by Rnsearch released on Wednesday, Yoon's job approval rating stood at 30.2 percent, edging up 0.7 percentage point from a week earlier. Among 1,027 respondents who were surveyed from Saturday to Monday, 67.6 percent negatively viewed Yoon's performance. The survey was requested by Newspim and further details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission's website.

Throughout the 52-minute press conference, Yoon stressed and reiterated that he will be more attentive to people's opinions, using the word "people" 34 times.

Although Yoon refused to pinpoint the reason behind his poor rating, many polls have shown that the public's opinion of the president worsened due to his questionable selections of ministers and secretaries.

The position of health minister has been vacant since his inauguration after two nominees withdrew on May 23 and July 4, respectively, due to controversies over using their influence and allegations of violating laws related to the use of political funds. More recently, Minister of Education Park Soon-ae resigned just 35 days after she was appointed, taking responsibility for triggering a public backlash over a proposal to lower the primary school entry age.

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Yoon pledged to be more cautious about appointing Cabinet members and promised to "review it from the beginning" and "screen personnel thoroughly."

The president, however, made it clear that he had no plans to conduct a Cabinet reshuffle to allay the public's concerns, revealing his distrust of politically motivated nominations.

When asked about a rift inside the ruling People Power Party (PPP) between its ousted former Chairman Lee Jun-seok and Yoon's confidants, the president declined to comment, saying he had no opportunity to look into other politicians' remarks and that he has not released a statement or commented on such remarks since last year's presidential campaign.

Lee lost his chairmanship as the party launched an emergency committee on Tuesday. Since then, he has stepped up criticism of Yoon and the PPP.

Lee launched an offensives against the president this week, saying he will give Yoon 25 points out of 100 for his managerial skills in state affairs.

Reporters raise their hands to ask questions to President Yoon Suk-yeol during a press conference to mark the first 100 days of his presidency at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Lauds achievements made so far

During the press conference, Yoon spent nearly 21 minutes explaining the achievements of his administration during the past 100 days as well as dropping some hints concerning various diplomatic matters.

With regards to North Korea, he reiterated his "audacious initiative," which was outlined in his National Liberation Day speech on Monday, saying the plan includes "Seoul's diplomatic support to normalize Washington-Pyongyang relations, arms-reduction talks for conventional weapons, food, agriculture and medical aid."

He also stressed that the South Korea-U.S. alliance has been rebuilt to set up extended deterrence against the North's threat after he took office and that efforts to restore soured Seoul-Tokyo relations are in the making.

On the economy, Yoon said his administration scrapped the "wrongful" income-led growth policy pursued by the previous administration, and realigned the country's economic policies to a free market-oriented direction.

Also, the president noted that his government has scrapped the "unilateral and ideology-based" nuclear power phase-out policy of the previous government to resuscitate South Korea's presence in the global nuclear power market.