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 a.
