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soryang

(3,299 posts)
Thu Sep 22, 2022, 09:43 AM Sep 2022

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's profanity-laced hot mic criticism of U.S. goes viral

CBS News
SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Seoul — Already battling record-low approval ratings, South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol has landed in trouble again after his disparaging remarks about key ally the United States were caught on a hot mic.

Yoon, a political novice who took office in May, is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and chatted on Wednesday with Joe Biden during a photo op at the Global Fund where the U.S. president had just pledged $6 billion.

"How could Biden not lose damn face if these f****rs do not pass it in Congress?" Yoon was caught saying to his aides afterwards in video that went viral in South Korea.


More:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-hot-mic-criticism-us-biden-goes-viral/

The pundits are saying this is another tactless gaffe by Yoon (known as "gaffe a day" Yoon in South Korea). Yet it is far more likely that this is a deliberately planned remark, as the IRA legislation discriminating against South Korean manufacturers is regarded in South Korea as a reflection of Yoon's foreign policy incompetence, namely, failing to monitor US legislation in the works beforehand, and making timely lobbying efforts. So the "gaffe" in question is really an effort to shift the blame onto the US Congress from himself.

The remark also reflects Yoon's contempt for legislative bodies in general.
The IRA legislation is regarded as a "stab in the back" ( 뒷 통수 ) by the US.

Yoon probably made the remark deliberately, to present the appearance of having worked on the problem during his 48 second encounter with Biden, which is ridiculous. His entire overseas effort involves a massive loss of face. The international photo ops were supposed to elevate his public support back home. It's been a disaster.

Polls place Yoon's public support at home about 32-34 percent. Yet the sampling is not random, and conservatives are overrepresented inflating the number.
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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's profanity-laced hot mic criticism of U.S. goes viral (Original Post) soryang Sep 2022 OP
Well let's see South Korea pony up 6 billion. jimfields33 Sep 2022 #1
At the Yoon-Biden summit in May soryang Sep 2022 #2

soryang

(3,299 posts)
2. At the Yoon-Biden summit in May
Thu Sep 22, 2022, 10:18 AM
Sep 2022

...major South Korean corporations pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars to build new factories in the US.

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/biden-south-korea-visit-yoon-alliance-north-korea

Yoon got nothing in return.

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