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.