After over a month of intense media promotion of Yoon with pictures of him holding semiconductor wafers, visiting flooded areas, ordering compensation for flood victims and prevention of floods, and other mundane actions, his approval rating has risen to 32%.
Trying to conduct deals and meet other leaders at a funeral? Very uncouth. Guess who.
I thought Yoon had the lowest ever approval rating for a Korean president after 100 days. I was wrong. It was former conservative president and current convict Lee Myung-bak with 21% (out of prison for health reasons, applied for extension of medical stay)
Yoon is trying to spend government money to help construction of infrastructure for semiconductor plants near Seoul. The government department in charge of planning and budget refused to allocate any funds stating that Samsung and SK Hynix had already planned the project and stepping in now to provide funding assistance would be inappropriate and would only serve to help Samsung and SK Hynix's spend less money on their projects.
Yoon is stated to have lost his temper and ordered his staff to get the funding. Very autocratic, yes? Seems like something Kim Jon-un would do.
“반도체, 중요한 분야” 尹 수차례 강조…국비 1000억원 요청 ‘No’ 한 기재부 예산실, Yes로 바뀔까 (Yoon stresses semiconductors are important. Will Planning and Budget change decision to yes)
The article tries to make it look as if the future of the semiconductor industry is dependent on government funding of $ 2bn over 5 years. Samsung and SK Hynix can afford to pay many tens of billions of dollars.
There's a whole ecosystem for semiconductors. Korea, US also, needs to promote the entire ecosystem. Specialized solvents, wafers, process and production equipment, parts, Korea learned that when Japan restricted exports for specialized solvents used in chip manufacturing. Took a couple of years to develop local production. The other smaller companies and workers involved need help, not so much Samsung and SK Hynix, in my opinion. TSMC, Intel, ARM and others do well without government assistance.
Would the US federal government give $ 2bn to help build infrastructure for an Apple or Tesla plant after the companies had already planned it? Before, maybe as an incentive to get something.
Yoon says Korea's survival depends on chip industry (no concrete plans, just chips are important and I will make plans to promote the industry - 20 September 2022). Tried to push government to pay for infrastructure but still making plans?
Yoon Suk-yeol’s poor approval ratings undermine South Korea’s ambitious foreign policy agenda
