Purges will backfire on South Korea's new president

Significance

As under his predecessor, these reforms, especially of the police, strike critics as partisan power plays rather than neutral or necessary restructuring. Yoon's approval ratings, never high, have fallen for eight straight weeks.

Impacts

• Treating the police, prosecution and intelligence services as political footballs impedes their functioning and corrodes democracy.
• Picking a fight with the police suggests lack of judgement and will not help Yoon recover his popularity.
• The intelligence service's lawsuits against its own former heads will sour both domestic politics and inter-Korean relations.