Who is Yoon Seok-yeol, South Korea's controversial new president?

Former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yeol of the conservative opposition People Power Party won South Korea's hotly disputed presidential election (PPP). Yoon will be the next president after winning by a razor-thin margin of 0.73 percent, or 247,077 votes, over his Democratic Party competitor Lee Jae-myung (DP).

For the first time in South Korean history, a political newcomer has won the presidency, pulling the PPP out of political obscurity. The triumph comes five years after the impeachment of former PPP president Park Geun-hye, who was deposed in the 2016–17 Candlelight Revolution.
 

Yoon has no experience in the National Assembly and no demonstrated ability to rule. He has been entangled in many controversies involving members of his family. Some conservatives also blame Yoon for indicting former conservative presidents Park and Lee Myung-bak, which led to Park's impeachment before she and Lee were imprisoned. Park was granted clemency in December 2021.

However, Yoon rose to prominence as a public and opposition hero after investigating former justice minister Cho Kuk's suspected misconduct as prosecutor general. Yoon's disagreement with Cho's successor, former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, over judicial power forced him to leave and run for president.

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Yoon's election, barely 370 days after resigning as prosecutor general, is inextricably linked to his track record as a dissident prosecutor. He gained notoriety as a dissident prosecutor following a shocking statement in October 2013. During a National Assembly hearing, Yoon said that he was urged to cease investigating the suspected role of the National Intelligence Service in influencing public opinion using internet and social media to promote Park during the 2012 presidential election. 

Yoon was dubbed "the most in-demand politician" upon his sudden departure as prosecutor general in March 2021. By then, he was widely regarded as a protector of the rule of law and the public interest, having examined corruption cases implicating President Moon's close supporters, most notably the Cho Kuk affair. In this sense, Moon has been the most important contributor to Yoon's improbable election victory.

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For Yoon's supporters, his election as president represents a victory for South Korean democracy, demonstrating South Korean voters' readiness to punish Moon and his party for their poor performance. According to them, the Moon government undermined South Korean democracy by monopolising state issues and the National Assembly, resulting in voter resentment.

The president-most elect's pressing duty today is to bring South Korean society and people together, who are disillusioned by skyrocketing property costs, growing economic and gender disparity, and the COVID-19 epidemic.

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