Two polls show that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval ratings have fallen in connection with the presidential office’s poor handling of the leaked US intelligence documents, among other negative factors. Yoon must take the warning signs seriously and try to address the dispute ahead of his upcoming state visit to the US.

On Monday, a poll of 2,506 voters conducted by Realmeter from March 10-14 showed that 33.6 percent viewed Yoon’s job performance positively, down 2.8 percentage points from a week earlier.

After peaking at 42.9 percent in the first week of March, Yoon’s approval ratings have been largely on the decline. The latest figure marked the lowest level since October last year.

Yoon’s disapproval rating stood at 63.4 percent, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous week. It was also a significant upsurge from 53.2 percent in the first week of March.

The fall in Yoon’s approval rating is attributed to the presidential office’s poor reaction to the diplomatic and security controversy that broke out following the leak of a set of highly classified Pentagon documents suggesting that the US has been spying on Yoon’s senior aides.

“The confusing announcements of Korea and the US, such as the remarks of Kim Tae-hyo, the president’s first deputy national security adviser, that there was no malicious eavesdropping, hurt national pride and amplified public concerns, directly hitting the president's approval ratings,” said Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter.

On Friday, a Gallup Korea poll of 1,002 adults showed the positive assessment of Yoon’s job performance had dropped by 4 percentage points from a week earlier to 27 percent, the first drop into the 20 percent range in five months. Yoon’s disapproval rating was 65 percent, up 4 percentage points from the previous week.

The main reason for poor job performance was related to diplomacy, again reflecting the growing public criticism about the presidential office’s desperate efforts to downplay the impact of the leaked documents and wiretapping.

Both polls suggest Yoon’s approval rating suffered a setback over the government’s inappropriate response to the US eavesdropping reports. At the center of the dispute was Kim Tae-hyo, whose comments sparked public criticism and deepened mistrust of the presidential office, which seemed unwilling to press the US for explanations or an apology over spying.

Last Tuesday, Kim claimed that most of the leaked intelligence on the US spying on Korea had been fabricated and that he had gotten confirmation about the fabrication from the US. But Kim did not offer any specific explanation about which part was forged and whether the interception of Korea's communications itself had been fake. The following day, Kim said that “a third party has been involved (in the wiretapping incident)” and there is no circumstantial evidence that the US had any “malicious intentions.”

Opposition lawmakers rightly questioned whether there is any spying activity with good intentions.

Despite Kim’s efforts to dismiss the incident as forged, what played out later tells a different story. The US authorities started investigating the leaked documents, with US officials publicly expressing grave concerns about the leaks. Even Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US is taking the unauthorized disclosure of classified intelligence documents “very seriously.” And Jack Teixeira, accused of releasing the top-secret Pentagon documents in an online chatroom, was arrested Thursday.

Looking at how the pieces of the puzzle come together, one might wonder whether the Korean government has any will or capability to handle the leak properly. Experts say that spying takes place everywhere and US wiretapping activities on allies are not a big surprise, but the practice is a highly sensitive issue that warrants a careful approach when it is exposed, as in the case of the leaked Pentagon documents.

The poor showing of the recent polls is also interpreted as a sign that Yoon’s leadership in general faces challenges on various fronts including stalled reform plans, volatile security issues and growing economic uncertainties. Much is at stake in his summit with US President Joe Biden on April 26, but equally important are the red flags about the missteps Yoon has made at home.