South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who briefly declared martial law Tuesday in a standoff with an opposition-dominated assembly, was elected in 2022 thanks to a reputation as a slayer of corruption earned during his career as a leader. prosecutor, before suffering a crushing defeat in the legislative elections this year.
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He caused shock and concern around the world on Tuesday by proclaiming martial law, calling the majority opposition in Parliament “forces hostile to the state” and saying he was acting to protect the country from threats emanating from North Korea. , before announcing the lifting of this exceptional regime and the withdrawal of troops from the streets of Seoul.
His party, the People’s Power Party (PPP, right), was largely defeated in April by the Democratic Party (center left), which placed this conservative president in a difficult position to implement his program over the last three years. of his mandate.
This image provided by the South Korean Presidential Office, taken on December 3, 2024, shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol giving a speech to declare martial law in Seoul.
AFP
By proclaiming martial law on Tuesday, he accused the opposition, with whom he is fighting notably over a draft budget, of being “an anti-state force” and of paralyzing the government.
Born in Seoul in 1960, Mr. Yoon studied law and played a key role, as Seoul prosecutor, in the 2016 impeachment and subsequent incarceration of former President Park Geun-hye on abuse charges. 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 complete lack of political experience, he won the party primaries and then the presidential election.
South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik (center, top) passes a resolution demanding the immediate lifting of martial law at the National Assembly in Seoul on December 4, 2024, after the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.
AFP
He won by the narrowest margin in the country’s history against his great rival Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party.
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.
His critics have blamed his government for food price inflation, a flagging economy, and increasing limits on freedom of expression.
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.
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.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (center, left) and his wife Kim Keon Hee (center, right) wave South Korean flags during a ceremony celebrating the 79th Korean National Liberation Day , at the Sejong Performing Arts Center in Seoul, on August 15, 2024.
AFP
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 serving a one-year prison sentence for falsifying financial documents in a real estate deal 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. He moved closer to Japan, attracting the discontent of part of the population in a country where resentment against the former colonial power remains strong.
Its firm policy towards the communist regime of North Korea could also be called into question if the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, were to reconnect with Pyongyang as he had begun to do during his first mandate.
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