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Yoon Seok-wyeh is the first president without parliamentary experience since the implementation of direct democratic elections in South Korea.
The results of the 2022 South Korean presidential election were released. The opposition National Power Party candidate Yin Xiyue narrowly defeated the ruling Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and was elected as the next South Korean president.
The South Korean general election attracted more than three-quarters of eligible voters. The two candidates ended up separated by less than 1 percent of the vote.
Yoon Seok-wyeh is the first president without parliamentary experience since the implementation of direct democratic elections in South Korea. As a relative “political amateur”, he was able to enter the Blue House after only 8 months in politics.
Yin Xiyue called his victory “a victory for the great people”. His opponent, Lee Jae-myung, conceded defeat on Thursday morning and apologized to supporters for his “deficiencies”.
Yin Xiyue will take over the top power of current President Moon Jae-in in May this year. South Korean presidents are limited to five-year terms and cannot be re-elected. As soon as he took office, he had to deal with the soaring housing prices and the high youth unemployment rate that the Korean people were most concerned about.
South Korea, with a population of more than 50 million, is the world’s tenth largest economy, but under the impact of the new crown epidemic and various factors, the country faces a series of social problems and divisions.
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Lee Jae-myung (left) and Yin Xiyue (right)
It is worth noting that Yin Xiyue was also accused of pandering to the strong anti-feminist sentiment in South Korea and courting young male voters. He has said he will abolish South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality.
In terms of foreign policy, Yin Xiyue has taken a tougher stance on North Korea and China, advocating less dependence on China. By contrast, he wants to improve ties with the United States, including rebuilding the South Korea-U.S. alliance and working with Washington on semiconductors, nuclear power and other cutting-edge technologies.
In response to the threat from North Korea, he also proposed the possibility of expanding the deployment of the Thaad (THAAD) anti-missile system during the election campaign, but this may lead to a strong reaction from China and bring uncertainty to Sino-South Korean relations that were eased under Moon Jae-in.
Although Yin Xiyue seems to have made history, public opinion surveys show that the two main candidates in this election are very unpopular, and they have both been exposed to multiple scandals on each other.
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Born into an intellectual family, 61-year-old Yin Xiyue studied at Seoul National University but passed the bar exam after nine attempts.
He worked in the prosecutor’s office where he investigated the corruption cases of two former presidents, Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, and defied political pressure to prosecute numerous officials and business executives. He was nominated by Moon Jae-in to be the attorney general, but he later became at odds with the current government over the investigation of Moon Jae-in’s favorite general and the scandal-plagued Justice Minister Cho Kook.
However, Yin Xiyue has no political experience from beginning to end, and he only announced in July last year to join the largest opposition party, the National Power.
South Korea’s conservative camp collapsed in 2017 when former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was impeached and ousted on corruption charges. This election means that South Korea’s conservative parties have regained power again after a lapse of five years.
countries react
After Yin Xiyue won the election, the White House issued an announcement saying that US President Joe Biden had a phone call with Yin Xiyue to congratulate him on winning the election.
During the call, the two affirmed the strength of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, saying it is the key to maintaining “peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said.
Biden said that the United States will adhere to its commitment to South Korea’s defense and looks forward to strengthening cooperation with South Korea on issues such as climate change, the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the global supply chain crisis.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry also congratulated Yin Xiyue on Thursday (March 10).
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China and South Korea are close neighbors that cannot be moved away, and are also important cooperative partners that cannot be separated from each other. China is willing to make joint efforts with the ROK to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also congratulated Yin Xiyue and expressed his hope to improve Japan-South Korea relations that have been strained by historical issues.
“I intend to work closely with the new president to improve Japan-South Korea relations,” he told reporters, adding that healthy relations between neighboring countries are vital to global peace and stability.
“Japan-South Korea relations are in a difficult situation, and we cannot sit idly by,” Kishida said.
Relations between the two East Asian countries have dropped to a freezing point in recent years over the issue of comfort women and the 2018 South Korean Supreme Court ordering Japanese companies to compensate South Korean workers who were forcibly recruited during World War II.
Analysis: bysayYoon Seok-wook for South Korea’s “Trump”
By Laura Bicker, BBC correspondent in Seoul
South Korea is about to usher in a new era, with conservatives winning the presidential election. But only narrowly.
Yin Xiyue, who entered politics only last year, gained notoriety after successfully prosecuting conservative former President Park Geun-hye in a bribery and corruption case.
The political novice has been likened to former US President Donald Trump and has made frequent gaffes throughout the campaign.
He had to retract his comments that the dictator Chun Doo-hwan was “good at politics”. Chun Doo-hwan massacred protesters in 1980.
He promised to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and blamed the rise of feminism for South Korea’s low birth rate. South Korea has one of the worst records for women’s rights in the developed world.
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South Korea has one of the worst records for women’s rights in developed countries, and the rampant sexual assault and secret photography incidents against women have often sparked protests by female groups.
He is tougher on foreign policy than the current liberal leader, Moon Jae-in.
He has said that if Pyongyang tries to attack Seoul, he will work on developing technology to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. He supports sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime, which would bring him more in line with the policies of the United States, South Korea’s main ally.
He wants a tougher stance on China and proposes that South Korea should cooperate more fully with the Quad, an informal group formed by the United States, Australia, India and Japan to counter China’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region. growing influence. But he did not say that Seoul should join the alliance.
His foreign policy views have been a decisive shift from his predecessors. Moon has advocated engagement with Pyongyang and has largely avoided positions that would anger China. China is South Korea’s largest trading partner.
Political division
Yoon’s victory marks the return of South Korea’s conservatives to power after five years, but the most closely contested presidential election since South Korea’s democratic transition in 1987 certainly showed the country’s political divisions.
Conservatives are typically hawkish on China and North Korea, conciliatory on Japan, and strongly pro-American. The group also has strong ties to conservative religious groups such as Christianity.
Progressives on the other side of the spectrum are softer toward China and North Korea, more hostile toward Japan, and less enthusiastic about the alliance with the United States.
After conservative President Park Geun-hye was ousted in 2017 over the “Choi Soon-sil” scandal, a majority of South Koreans consider themselves liberal, according to a Gallup poll in South Korea. But with growing social injustice and rising unemployment, more and more voters are moving toward centrists or conservatives.
Moon Jae-in, once South Korea’s most popular president, had a thriving economy during his tenure and successfully contained the virus’ spread in the early days of the pandemic. He also raised the minimum wage and cut working hours.
However, under the influence of multiple factors such as the continuation of the epidemic, rising prices, and reduced employment opportunities, South Koreans are facing increasing social pressure.
The latest figures from the Korea Institute for Hyundai Economic Research show that South Korea’s “economic misery index” in 2021, calculated by calculating the country’s consumer prices and unemployment rate, will be 6.2, the highest in 10 years.
Moon Jae-in has also been heavily criticized by voters for soaring housing prices during his presidency. He apologised for it.
Yin Xiyue, who was born in the judicial system and gained popularity by virtue of the image of the liquidation dignitaries, seems to have given voters the confidence to promote a fairer society.
However, Yin Xiyue is more inclined to economic liberalism than his electoral opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who hopes to expand social welfare and relief and control housing prices through strong regulatory measures similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
In his election speech on Thursday (March 10), Yin Xiyue said that his election reflects the people’s desire to restore justice and common sense in the country, as well as their willingness to achieve unity regardless of gangs. He said that he will never forget the demands of the people and build a country full of hope.
