South Korea’s president denies wrongdoing in growing scandal

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has denied wrongdoing in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that is severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals.

The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing a slew of critical foreign policy issues, such as Donald Trump’s election win to become the next president of the US and North Korea’s reported entry into the Russia-Ukraine war.

The scandal centres around allegations that Mr Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee exerted inappropriate influence on the conservative ruling People Power Party to pick a certain candidate to run for a parliamentary by-election in 2022 at the request of Myung Tae-kyun, an election broker and founder of a polling agency who conducted free opinion surveys for Mr Yoon before he became president.

For weeks, the scandal has been making headlines in South Korea as Mr Myung’s leaked phone conversations show he boasted of his influence over the presidential couple and other top ruling party officials.

Asked about his ties with Mr Myung during a press conference on Thursday, Mr Yoon said, “I didn’t do anything inappropriate and have nothing to hide regarding Myung Tae-kyun.”

Mr Yoon said he has never meddled in any candidate nomination processes at the PPP, and had never asked Mr Myung to carry out surveys for him, though he acknowledged that Mr Myung gave him some sort of help during his presidential primary campaign in 2021.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party said Mr Yoon’s response only showed his “arrogance” and “self-righteousness”.

The party earlier demanded that Mr Yoon apologise, reshuffle top officials and accept an independent investigation into his wife.

The Democratic Party recently shared what it said was an audio file of phone calls between Mr Yoon and Mr Myung on May 9, 2022 — a day before Mr Yoon took office for a single five-year term.

The opposition party alleges that the conversation proves Mr Yoon provided Mr Myung with political favours in return for free surveys.

In the audio file, Mr Yoon can be heard telling Mr Myung that he asked a PPP committee to pick senior party member Kim Young-sun to run for one of the parliamentary by-elections the following month. Mr Kim Young-sun eventually obtained the party’s nomination and won the election.

In the file, Mr Myung is heard saying, “I really won’t forget this favour for my entire life. Thank you!”

South Korea’s election law bars public servants, including the president, from interfering in elections, but applies no such restrictions to a president-elect, so it is unclear whether Mr Yoon violated the law.

Recent surveys showed his approval rating fell below 20% for the first time since his inauguration.

Ms Kim Keon Hee has been grappling with other scandals, such as spy camera footage purportedly showing her accepting a luxury bag as a gift from a pastor.

Mr Yoon apologised for causing public concerns about him and his wife, but stressed that many of the allegations raised were not consistent with the facts.

On foreign policy, Mr Yoon — who has worked closely with Washington and Tokyo to solidify security cooperation in the face of North Korean threats — expressed optimism that the three-way partnership will continue to expand under Trump’s government.

He said he wants to meet Mr Trump and new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba soon to co-ordinate policies.

During his previous presidency, Mr Trump engaged in highly orchestrated nuclear summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Mr Yoon noted that North Korea’s arsenal has significantly advanced since Mr Trump’s diplomacy with Kim collapsed in 2019.

Mr Yoon said Mr Trump “will be receiving comprehensive reports very soon about how North Korea’s nuclear technologies and capabilities have changed since then”.

“After he receives these reports, I think we can have more meaningful and in-depth discussions when we have the opportunity to meet,” Mr Yoon said.

When asked about concerns that Mr Trump’s “America first” approach would damage South Korean interests in trade through increased tariffs and other measures, Mr Yoon said Seoul was making “multi-faceted efforts to minimise the losses to our people’s economy”.

“Things can’t be exactly the same as they were during the Biden administration,” he said, “but we have been preparing to hedge these risks for a long time.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Yoon had a telephone call with Mr Trump, congratulating him on his election win and discussing strengthening bilateral cooperation.

The two agreed to arrange an in-person meeting soon, according to Mr Yoon’s office.