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| President Yoon Suk-yeol wears a civil defense jacket as he enters his office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps |
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk-yeol is taking extra care regarding the country's preparedness for Typhoon Hinnamnor, which might be the most powerful storm ever to hit Korea. The storm comes against the backdrop of the president's efforts to regain public trust with regard to his administration due to a plummeting approval rating of late.
On his way to the presidential office, Monday, Yoon told reporters that the typhoon would strike Jeju Island and the southern part of the Korean Peninsula from midnight and the government will do its utmost to protect residents' safety.
"To all the personnel working for disaster control and emergency rescue, everything should be reported after taking actions preemptively," Yoon said. "Please do your best to prevent damage as if all the people are your family members. Reports to the president also should be made after taking the required measures."
Unlike previous daily comments on his way to the office, Yoon requested reporters to ask questions related only to the typhoon, describing the storm as a "disaster." He said he would be in "emergency mode" on Monday.
A day earlier, Yoon presided over a 70-minute meeting with Cabinet ministers and heads of government agencies related to weather and asked for their thorough preparedness in coping with the typhoon.
Yoon has been taking extra care of the country's measures against natural disasters recently, after his response ― and those of his administration ― to a heavy downpour early last month became a subject of controversy.
During the heavy rainfall that flooded the country in the second week of last month, 14 people died, 26 were injured and four remain unaccounted for. At the time, Yoon issued his first apology as the president, promising improvements in the government's emergency response system.
Despite the apology, Yoon came under fire as he had been briefed about the situation and gave response orders from his residence in Seocho District, Seoul, on Aug. 8, when the heavy downpour started. As transportation near his residence was paralyzed during the rain, this further triggered doubts as to whether his residential apartment is capable of helicopter landings in an emergency.
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| A worker secures scaffolding at a construction site in Dongjak District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
Against this backdrop, Yoon appears to be urging the government to brace itself for anticipated damage from the typhoon, in order to prevent the public sentiment towards the government from souring further and negatively affecting his already low approval ratings.
According to a Realmeter survey released on Monday, Yoon recorded a 32.3 percent job approval rating in the fifth week of August, slipping from 33.6 percent a week earlier. Negative sentiment stood at 64.9 percent, up from 63.3 percent last week, in a poll that surveyed 2,516 adults from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2. Further details of the survey are available at the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.
A Realmeter official said the downward trend was noticeable in Yoon's strongholds such as the southeastern city of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, due to a protracted internal feud in the ruling People Power Party.
Given that the typhoon is anticipated to mostly affect the southeastern region of the country, a mishap in the administration's response may stir the region's already-diminishing support of the president further, pundits said.
The timing of the storm is also one of the reasons for Yoon being wary of the political repercussions.
With Hinnamnor being expected to reach its full force by the end of this week and the country's Chuseok harvest holiday beginning on Friday the two are expected to be inflection points for public sentiment toward the government.
The typhoon is also anticipated to affect the sales of small vendors and mom-and-pop grocery owners at traditional markets, who have been expecting the Chuseok holiday to be their busiest period of the year.
"Though all long holidays are important inflection points for public sentiment, this year's Chuseok is especially so and the government's response to the typhoon seems to be creating extra political significance," an official at the presidential office said asking not to be named.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is already ratcheting up its offensives on the Yoon administration's typhoon response, demanding the government increase the amount of disaster relief to those damaged by floods or rainfall.
"The government is now paying 2 million won ($1,458) for those who suffered damage from flooding or rainfall, but the amount is way too small for helping victims to get back to their regular lives," DPK Chairman Lee Jae-myung said in the party's supreme council meeting.
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