Anti-feminist and political apprentice: South Korea’s new President Yoon

New South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, a political novice, was known to the general public as an inflexible prosecutor, as he worked on corruption scandals among the country’s top officials.

But because of his aggressive stances toward Pyongyang, his anti-feminist campaign promises and his indifference to issues such as poverty or the war in Ukraine, this conservative has generated a lot of controversy.

And his parliamentary inexperience could cost him dearly before the National Assembly controlled by his opponents in the Democratic Party, who will closely monitor his policies.

Born in Seoul in 1960, Yoon played a key role in the overthrow of former President Park Geun-hye for abuse of power in 2017.

He appointed the country’s first attorney general in 2019, and has also charged a close aide to outgoing President Moon Jae-in with fraud and corruption. This case has tarnished the image of the integrity of the Moon administration, which nonetheless appointed Mr. Yun to his position.

Thus he caught the attention of the People’s Power Party (PPP, right), who began to court him. He eventually won the primaries to become her presidential candidate.

Mr Yoon “has built his reputation as a relentless fighter against the abuse of power, not as a traditional democratic leader who values ​​negotiation and understanding,” assures AFP Ji Wook Shin, professor of sociology at Stanford University. .

Right icon

He became an “icon” for the Conservatives because “he is considered the best person to outperform the Democratic Party candidate, despite his lack of experience in political leadership,” Mr. Shen adds.

“This does not bode well for Korean democracy, as we can expect further polarization,” he said.

Analysts say South Korea’s political life is deeply divided. All living former presidents were imprisoned for corruption after their tenure.

Despite his role in Ms Park’s ouster, Yoon received support from Tory voters by giving them a chance to “take revenge” on Mr Moon – even if he went so far as to threaten to investigate him for unspecified “improperties”.

Mr. Yun’s wife claimed that her critics would be prosecuted if her husband wins, because it is “the nature of power,” according to statements recorded and published without his knowledge.

– Inspired by Churchill –

According to South Korean media, Yoon is taking former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a role model.

As an outspoken anti-feminist, he has pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, which has led advances for South Korean women since 2001. He has argued that South Korean women do not suffer from systemic discrimination, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

His words prompted the young women to mobilize against him. Mr. Yun won the election by the narrowest margin ever. His transition committee later said he would keep the Ministry of Gender Equality for the time being.

Regarding North Korea, Yun has threatened its nuclear-armed neighbor with preemptive strikes, which analysts say seems completely unrealistic.

During his election campaign, he called Kim Jong Un a “rude boy” and vowed to his voters to “teach him morals.”

It also wants to acquire the US THAAD missile system to counter the North, despite the risks of attracting new economic retaliatory measures from China, its main trading partner.

“Mr. Yoon’s lack of political skills will affect foreign policy,” Minson Koo, a professor of political science at Ohio State University, told AFP.

So far, she added, Yoon’s camp appears to be “only copying and pasting foreign policy phrases from speeches by US Republican presidents.”

He also made a series of blunders during the campaign, from praising one of the country’s former dictators to denigrating manual labor and the African people.

“The next presidency comes at a time when the world is going through a period of transition,” especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Karl Friedhof of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs told AFP.

This means facing difficult trade-offs challenges that South Korea did not have to face in the past. Is Yoon up to the task? »