South Korea presidential hopeful blames Moon’s ‘pro-Beijing’ policies for fuelling bad blood between neighbours

Former prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol said Moon Jae-in tried and failed ‘to play the role of mediator’ between China and the US, fuelling negative sentiment

The People Power Party candidate has vowed to align Seoul more closely to Washington and Tokyo if he wins South Korea’s presidential election in March

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Yoon Suk-yeol from South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party delivers a speech after being chosen as his party’s candidate in November. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:40pm, 29 Dec 2021Updated: 4:40pm, 1 Mar 2022

South Korean presidential hopeful Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday blamed the government’s “pro-China” policies for fuelling negative sentiment among younger Koreans towards their East Asian neighbour.

Yoon, a former prosecutor who has launched corruption investigations into the current administration led by President Moon Jae-in, argued that leadership’s “skewed policies” towards Beijing had upset a previous balance when Seoul “dealt with China based on strong cooperation between South [Korea], the United States and Japan”.

“The government attempted to play the role of mediator between China and the United States, but this ended up in failure,” he told a gathering of business leaders at the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.

Yoon Suk-yeol, centre, takes a selfie with airport employees during a visit to Cheongju last month. Photo: EPA/Yonhap

Such policies gave rise to a situation where Korean youngsters disliked China and “differently from the past, Chinese people, mostly young ones, don’t like South Korea either”, he said.

Political commentators and members of the ruling Democratic Party were quick to condemn Yoon for harming the national interest. China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, providing about 25 per cent of its export revenue and 21 per cent of imports by value.

While South Korea and Japan are allies of the United States, ties between Seoul and Tokyo have nosedived in recent years over unresolved territorial and historical disputes. Seoul has also taken a friendlier stance towards Beijing amid ongoing US-China tensions, most recently saying it would not join a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and highlighting China’s role in achieving denuclearisation of North Korea.

A Democratic Party spokeswoman described Yoon’s remarks as “crazy”.

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