South Korea’s China ambassador faces abuse probe as President Yoon gets no respite after election rout
- Envoy Chung Jae-ho allegedly bullied embassy staff and a South Korean team is in Beijing to investigate the matter, according to a media report
- President Yoon Suk-yeol is under growing pressure to dismiss his unpopular loyalists after his party’s crushing election defeat last week
One attaché reportedly filed formal complaints with Seoul’s foreign ministry, accompanied by audio recordings of the ambassador’s alleged abusive conduct.
“The necessary investigation concerning Ambassador Chung is under way per relevant procedures,” a ministry official told This Week in Asia. He declined to give further details including whether an audit team had been dispatched to Beijing and how long the inspection would last.
In a statement sent to correspondents in China earlier, Chung said media reports on the case were based on a “one-sided claim”. He gave no further details, citing the forthcoming probe.
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Since the staff abuse allegations surfaced early last month, Chung has reportedly been maintaining his duties, including organising the screening of Korean cinema shows for foreign ambassadors in Beijing, but he has stopped seeing Korean correspondents in the city.
The inspection, initially expected to start earlier this month, had been put off until the end of the April 10 parliamentary elections in an apparent bid to avoid influencing vote results.
Chung’s case is closely watched as President Yoon is under growing pressure to reshuffle the government and dismiss his unpopular loyalists after his ruling conservative People Power Party suffered a rout at the elections.
The 64-year-old former international relations professor at Seoul National University was appointed in June 2022 as the first envoy to China under Yoon’s administration.
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Former defence minister Lee Jong-sup, who had been appointed as ambassador to Australia last month, returned home and gave up the post in less than a month as his appointment sparked allegations that the government is seeking to help him escape justice.
Lee has been under investigation for the death of a marine in July last year in North Geyongsang province during a controversial search and rescue mission.
In 2018, Kim Do-hyun, then South Korean ambassador to Vietnam, was fired by the ministry for allegedly taking bribes and verbally abusing a staff member.
Chung is facing mounting calls for his resignation from the Democratic Party of Korea. The main opposition party secured a comfortable majority with 175 seats at the 300-seat National Assembly at the elections, which were seen as a midterm referendum on Yoon’s performance on the job.
02:24
South Korea’s opposition in landslide parliamentary election win, striking blow to ruling party
Yoon’s ruling conservative People Power Party only managed to win 108 seats.
Two days after the elections, Yoon saw his approval ratings sink to an all-time low of 28 per cent in a poll conducted by the Realmeter polling agency.
He will give his first public remarks on Tuesday about his post-election plans, a presidential official said on Monday.
According to Yonhap news agency, Yoon will use his opening remarks at Tuesday’s government cabinet meeting to speak about how he plans to overhaul state affairs and cooperate with the new National Assembly.
The opposition parties threaten to launch special parliamentary probes into power abuse and corruption allegations involving Yoon’s cronies and his wife Kim Keon-hee.
