SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that鈥檚 severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals.
The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing a slew of critical foreign policy issues, such as to become the next president of the United States and .
The scandal centers around allegations that 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 .
For weeks, the scandal has been making headlines in as 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 Myung during a press conference Thursday, Yoon said, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do anything inappropriate and have nothing to hide regarding Myung Tae-kyun.鈥
Yoon said he has never meddled in any candidate nomination processes at the PPP, and had never asked Myung to carry out surveys for him, though he acknowledged that Myung gave him some sort of help during his presidential primary campaign in 2021.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party said Yoon's response only showed his 鈥渁rrogance" and 鈥渟elf-righteousness." The party earlier demanded Yoon apologize, reshuffle top officials and accept an independent investigation into his wife.
The Democratic Party recently shared what it said was an audio file of phone calls between Yoon and Myung on May 9, 2022 鈥 a day before Yoon took office for a single five-year term. The opposition party alleges that the conversation proves Yoon provided Myung with political favors in return for free surveys.
In the audio file, Yoon can be heard telling Myung that he asked a PPP committee to pick senior party member Kim Young-sun to run for one of the parliamentary by-elections the following month. Kim Young-sun eventually obtained the party鈥檚 nomination and won the election.
In the file, Myung is heard saying, 鈥淚 really won鈥檛 forget this favor for my entire life. Thank you!鈥
South Korea鈥檚 election law bars public servants, including the president, from interfering in elections, but applies no such restrictions to a president-elect, so it's unclear whether Yoon violated the law.
Recent surveys showed Yoon's approval rating fell below 20% for the first time . Kim Keon Hee has been grappling with other scandals, such as spy camera footage purportedly showing her as a gift from a pastor.
Yoon apologized for causing public concerns about him and his wife, but stressed that many of the allegations raised were not consistent with the facts.
Some ruling party lawmakers have accused the Democratic Party of deliberately ramping up political attacks on Yoon and his wife in an effort to rescue its , from legal troubles.
who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, is undergoing four separate trials over corruption and various other allegations. The first two district court rulings on Lee over his election law violation and perjury charges are set for Nov. 15 and Nov. 25. Either a prison sentence or a fine of more than 1 million won ($750) in the election law case would unseat Lee as a lawmaker and disqualify him from running in elections for five years, although he is likely to appeal any guilty verdict.
Surveys show Lee is the early favorite for the 2027 presidential race to succeed Yoon.
On foreign policy, Yoon 鈥 who has worked closely with to solidify security cooperation in the face of 鈥 expressed optimism that the three-way partnership will continue to expand under Trump鈥檚 government. He said he wants to meet Trump and soon to coordinate policies.
During his previous presidency, Trump engaged in highly orchestrated . Yoon noted that North Korea鈥檚 arsenal has significantly advanced since Trump鈥檚 diplomacy with Kim collapsed in 2019.
Yoon said Trump 鈥渨ill be receiving comprehensive reports very soon about how North Korea鈥檚 nuclear technologies and capabilities have changed since then."
鈥淎fter he receives these reports, I think we can have more meaningful and in-depth discussions when we have the opportunity to meet," Yoon said.
When asked about concerns that Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica first鈥 approach would damage South Korean interests in trade through , Yoon said Seoul was making 鈥渕ultifaceted efforts to minimize the losses to our people鈥檚 economy.鈥
鈥淭hings can鈥檛 be exactly the same as they were during the Biden administration,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ut we have been preparing to hedge these risks for a long time."
Earlier Thursday, Yoon had a telephone call with Trump, congratulating him on his election win and discussing strengthening bilateral cooperation. The two agreed to arrange an in-person meeting soon, according to Yoon鈥檚 office.
Prospects for South Korea-U.S. relations under Trump 鈥渃ould depend on whether Yoon is able to strike up positive chemistry with Trump immediately during the transition and foster a close personal friendship to convince him to want to support advance Seoul鈥檚 interests,鈥 said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
鈥淭his might be the only way to avert devastating consequences and surprises in the alliance relationship 鈥 including South Korean questions about Washington鈥檚 defense commitment 鈥 that we currently assume would happen based on Trump鈥檚 harsh rhetoric against allies and transactional style,鈥 she said.
