South Korea’s Yoon says they are not fixated on record-low approval ratings

South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has been struggling with record low approval ratings after just three months in office, said Wednesday he was not fixated on his poor poll numbers.

Since taking office in May, Yoon has seen his approval ratings plummet to a low of 24 percent, and he said at a press conference marking his 100-day inauguration that he will reflect on what went wrong.

But it is “more important to humbly examine the public sentiment reflected in opinion polls than to fixate on the number itself,” he told reporters.

Yoon, a lifelong prosecutor with no prior experience in elected office, has made what analysts call a series of unforced errors in his first few months in the role, which is typically honeymoon time for new presidents in South Korea.

Poll data showed that his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, enjoyed approval ratings of about 70 percent at the same time he was in office, and Yoon began the job with 52 percent of respondents believing he was doing a good job.

Despite constant criticism of his team from local media, Yoon said Wednesday he was not planning a major reshuffle to appease angry voters who polls have said have deserted him in droves.

“Reshuffles should be done carefully and not for political reasons to reverse … approval (ratings),” he said, adding that he wanted people to give his government more time.

In the latest misstep, his office released a photo showing Yoon in a basement apartment in Seoul, where three people died in floods last week, with the caption, “People’s safety is top priority.”

The image has been widely slammed as an insensitive PR stunt that politicizes the tragedy. His office later took it down from his social media pages.

He was also criticized for mistreating US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to South Korea after a controversial stop in Taiwan.

His ministerial appointments have been marred by sit-outs and resignations, and his decision to move out of the President’s Blue House has drawn him online ridicule.

“The polls overall show that the public does not see Yoon as a presidential candidate,” political commentator Shin Jang-sik told AFP.

“His words fell far short of what was needed … People will likely see his speech today as an indication of his unwillingness to change course.”

Yoon took office promising to crack down on North Korea, but said Wednesday he does not support violent regime change and remains ready to offer Pyongyang massive aid — if Kim Jong Un gives up its nuclear weapons.

Analysts say the chances of Pyongyang accepting such an offer – first made during Yoon’s inaugural speech – are vanishingly small, since North Korea, which invests a large part of its GDP in weapons programs, has long made it clear that it will not trade its GDP will rockets away.

When asked if he would consider acquiring nuclear weapons if Kim didn’t stop his nuclear program, Yoon said he would “uphold the principle of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to the end.”

North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests this year and is widely believed to be preparing for another nuclear test.