Yoon Suk Yeol: Was South Korea’s president thwarted by a spring onion? - BBC News

Yoon Suk Yeol's party failed to win a majority in Wednesday's parliamentary election.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Rebuilding Korea PartyImage caption, An opposition leader, Cho Guk, campaigning with a Dior handbag and spring onionsBy Jean MackenzieSeoul correspondentIn February, the price of a single apple in Korea hit $7 (£5.5), albeit at a fancy department store. Fruit is notoriously expensive here, but for voters, who have been struggling with punishing grocery price rises, this crossed a line.

In a botched attempt to address their concerns, President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a food market and marvelled at how "reasonably priced" the spring onions were. The market in question was in fact heavily subsidised. Online outrage and mockery ensued.

"The president is going to be brought down by a spring onion," the leader of one of the opposition parties exclaimed.

But the price of food is just one in a long list of reasons why President Yoon's conservative party has lost South Korea's parliamentary elections, which were regarded as a vote of confidence on his first two years in office.

Mr Yoon has always been unpopular. Since being elected by the narrowest share of the vote in South Korean history - 0.7% - his approval rate has tended to hover around 30-40%. Last month, half of those surveyed judged him to have done a "very bad" job so far.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68786178

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