South Korea’s parliamentary elections are not a referendum on the foreign policy of President Yoon Suk-yeol. Indeed, foreign policy barely ranks on the list of voters' concerns, which are dominated instead by familiar themes like inflation, housing and the economy.
The public is well within their rights to give Yoon a black eye, such is dissatisfaction with issues including the handling of the ongoing doctors’ strike — not to mention the aloofness of the first couple that has made green onions and Dior handbags part of the national conversation.
The disastrous defeat suffered by Yoon’s People Power Party will leave him close to a lame duck with most of his five-year term still to go. Keep in mind that he barely squeaked through when elected two years ago, and there has clearly not been popular support for his approach to South Korea’s place in Asia and the broader world.