The crisis is particularly serious in South Korea. On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol caused shock by declaring martial law. He thus hoped to win his standoff with an assembly dominated by the opposition by force.
Causing concern around the world, particularly among its American ally, and demonstrations in Seoul, he reversed this decision a few hours later by announcing the lifting of this exceptional regime and the withdrawal of troops from the streets of the capital. Seoul. On Wednesday, the main opposition party said that if he “does not resign immediately, the Democratic Party will instantly initiate impeachment proceedings, in accordance with the popular will.”
The center left holds the Assembly
Elected in 2022 thanks to a reputation as a slayer of corruption earned during his career as a prosecutor, he suffered a crushing defeat in the legislative elections this year. His party, the People's Power Party (PPP, right), had in fact been largely defeated in April by the Democratic Party (center left), which placed it in a difficult position to implement its program over the last three years. of his mandate.
Born in Seoul in 1960, Yoon Suk Yeol studied law and played a key role, as Seoul prosecutor, in the 2016 impeachment and subsequent incarceration of former President Park Geun-hye for abuse. of power. Appointed attorney general of the country in 2019, he stood out again by indicting a close collaborator of President Moon Jae-in, his predecessor, for fraud and corruption.
This is how he attracted the attention of the People Power Party. Despite his total lack of political experience, he won the party primaries, then the presidential election. However, he won by the narrowest margin in the country's history against his great rival Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party.
Ministry of Gender Equality under threat
Once in power, his reputation was quickly tarnished by a series of scandals, starting with the tragic Halloween stampede in Seoul in October 2022 which left more than 150 dead. The tragedy was attributed to a cascade of negligence on the part of the authorities.
A self-confessed anti-feminist, he pledged during his campaign to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, at the forefront of progress for South Korean women since 2001, but was never able to put this promise into practice. lack of parliamentary majority.
A very controversial gift
He was also accused of abusing his right of veto, in particular to block a parliamentary investigation into a case of price manipulation involving his wife Kim Keon Hee. Last year, his reputation took another blow when his wife was filmed without his knowledge accepting a designer handbag worth $2,000 as a gift. Her mother-in-law, Choi Eun-soon, is also serving a one-year prison sentence for falsifying financial documents in a real estate transaction and is expected to be released in July.
In power, he pursued a firm policy towards North Korea and strengthened the alliance with the United States. It has also moved closer to Japan, attracting the discontent of part of the population in a country where resentment towards the former colonial power remains strong. Its policy of firmness towards Pyongyang could, however, be called into question if Donald Trump were to reconnect with Kim Jong-un as he began to do during his first term.
