South Korea’s Recent COVID-19 Surge Spells Trouble for Moon and His Party

Despite being an early hotspot when COVID-19 started to grip the globe last year, South Korea has been seen by many as a model for its ability to contain COVID-19’s spread domestically and weather the enormous economic setbacks that have plagued other countries. During the early summer of 2020, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings soared past 60 percent as many Koreans applauded the administration’s effectiveness in handling the crisis.

However, the bump proved to be short-lived. Economic concerns, especially South Korea’s surging housing prices, have sunk his ratings to mostly below 40 percent over the past year. This has also translated to losses in public support for his party, the Democratic Party of Korea.  While the party had a comfortable lead over the main opposition party, the People Power Party (PPP), for most of Moon’s term, the past year has seen the PPP make substantial gains and even beat the Democratic Party in approval ratings over the past month, with its highest rating in years at 39 percent in the third week of November, according to Gallup Korea.