Yoon Suk Yeol: South Korea’s 13th President
Yoon Suk Yeol has been the president of South Korea since 2022, representing the conservative People Power Party. He won the election by a slim margin, beating his Democratic Party rival Lee Jae-myung by less than 1 percentage point. With no prior political experience, Yoon spent 27 years as a prosecutor before entering politics.
Yoon’s platform is marked by a hardline stance on North Korea. Unlike his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who favored dialogue, Yoon promised to boost South Korea’s military defenses and even hinted at the possibility of a preemptive strike if he detected an imminent North Korean attack on Seoul.
Yoon is also clear about his prioritization of ties with the United States over China, saying during his election campaign, “South Korea and the United States share an alliance forged in blood as we have fought together to protect freedom against the tyranny of communism.” Since the re-election of Donald Trump, Yoon has even started practicing golf again to prepare for “golf diplomacy” with the new president.
At home, Yoon faces a plethora of challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect the country, as well as widespread corruption, polarized politics, and issues with gender equality. The run-up to the election saw a heightened sense of gender war, with young voters increasingly divided along gender lines. Some individuals claimed that the country’s efforts to address gender inequality had gone too far in favor of women, while feminists pointed to the pervasive sexual violence, entrenched gender expectations, and low representation of women in leadership roles as evidence of ongoing discrimination against women.
