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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on March 21. (presidential office pool photo)

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol spent more than 20 minutes of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday loudly justifying his recent summit with the Japanese prime minister and bragging about his achievements. There was no indication that he was aware in the slightest of the sheer diplomatic incompetence entailed in acceding to all of Japan’s demands without getting any tangible concessions out of the Japanese.

Yoon contended that “Japan has already apologized to us and expressed contrition dozens of times,” while framing domestic criticism as being the work of “groups that seek political gain by endorsing exclusionary nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiment.” This was a damning display of Yoon’s self-righteous and sanctimonious disregard for the disappointment and rage of many Koreans.

Yoon remarked that the Supreme Court’s ruling about forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule “led to export controls and other forms of economic retaliation by Japan,” effectively blaming poor relations on the court ruling.

The president also resorted to the old chestnut of bashing the previous administration: “Neglect by the previous government caused Korea and Japan’s national security and economies to sink into a chasm of enmity.”

Yoon studiously ignored the fact that Japan imposed export controls on Korea instead of responding in a more reasonable fashion to the Supreme Court’s ruling for reasons related to domestic politics, including Tokyo’s desire to jump on the bandwagon of public hatred for Korea.

By putting the whole blame for strained relations on Korea, Yoon offers a glimpse of just how deep his masochism goes.

Yoon devoted a fair amount of time to naïve predictions about the immense economic benefits that await Korea if its concessions lead to better relations with Japan. Then he instructed the Korean government to restore Japan’s position on the “whitelist” of preferred trading partners before Japan has even taken that step. That was just another unilateral concession, even though it was Japan that first pulled Korea from its white list.

It’s a rule in diplomacy that hostile measures between two countries should be lifted simultaneously, following elaborate coordination between the two sides. Yoon ought to explain to the Korean public why he keeps bending the rules for the benefit of Japan.

Yoon was so busy patting himself on the back that he didn’t offer any explanation for the various allegations that have been raised about the summit. The Korean government was left flat-footed by a series of reports in the Japanese press claiming that Japan brought up sensitive issues, including Dokdo, the “comfort women,” and contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear reactor during the summit, and Yoon’s lieutenants have done little but hem and haw.

Yoon’s silence on this issue on Tuesday only aggravates suspicions that he responded with apathy or servility even on issues linked to public safety and territorial sovereignty. One hopes the president will spend a moment pondering why Koreans are so angry at him before it’s too late.

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