As a star prosecutor, Yoon Suk-yeol, the main conservative candidate, helped imprison two former presidents in addition to the top of Samsung and a former chief justice of the nation’s Supreme Courtroom on costs of corruption.
Now, Mr. Yoon hopes to turn into president himself by interesting to South Koreans who’re deeply dissatisfied with the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in.
Mr. Moon’s authorities and his Democratic Celebration have been rocked by a collection of scandals that uncovered moral lapses and coverage failures round sky-high housing costs, rising earnings inequality and a scarcity of social mobility.
“Up till not too long ago, I had by no means imagined coming into politics,” Mr. Yoon mentioned in a latest marketing campaign speech. “However the individuals put me within the place I’m in now, on a mission to take away the incompetent and corrupt Democratic Celebration from energy.”
Mr. Yoon was born in Seoul on Dec. 18, 1960. His father was a university professor and his mom a former instructor. A graduate of the Seoul Nationwide College, he grew to become a prosecutor in 1994 after passing the bar examination on his ninth strive. He finally made his title as an anti-corruption investigator who didn’t flinch beneath political strain whereas going after among the nation’s richest and strongest.
“I don’t owe my loyalty to anybody,” Mr. Yoon famously mentioned throughout a parliamentary listening to in 2013.
It was beneath Mr. Moon that Mr. Yoon grew to become a family title in South Korea, first as senior investigator after which as prosecutor normal. He spearheaded the president’s anti-corruption marketing campaign, investigating the hyperlinks between Samsung, South Korea’s strongest conglomerate, and two former conservative presidents, Park Geun-hye and her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
However then Mr. Yoon began clashing with Mr. Moon’s authorities, as prosecutors beneath his management started investigating allegations of wrongdoing involving the president’s political allies, equivalent to Cho Kuk, a former justice minister.
The conservative opposition, which had earlier vilified Mr. Yoon as a political henchman, instantly started calling him a hero. Final 12 months, he stepped down as prosecutor normal and received the presidential nomination from the principle conservative Folks Energy Celebration. If elected, he could be the primary former prosecutor to turn into president in South Korea.
Though this presidential bid is Mr. Yoon’s first strive at elected workplace, he has a strong assist base amongst conservative South Koreans who wish to punish Mr. Moon’s authorities for its perceived coverage failures, but haven’t any confidence within the present management of the Folks Energy Celebration.
“Yoon is like Trump,” mentioned Kim Hyung-joon, a political scientist at Myongji College in Seoul. “He’s an outsider working to shake up the institution.”