Yoon Suk Yeol

Yoon Suk Yeol
윤석열
Official portrait, 2022
13th President of South Korea
In office
9 May 2022 – 4 April 2025[a]
Prime Minister
Preceded byMoon Jae-in
Succeeded byHan Duck-soo (acting)
Prosecutor General of South Korea
In office
25 July 2019 – 4 March 2021
PresidentMoon Jae-in
Preceded byMun Mu-il
Succeeded byKim Oh-soo
Personal details
Born (1960-12-18) 18 December 1960 (age 64)
Seoul, South Korea
Political partyPeople Power (since 2021)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (before 2021)
Spouse
(m. 2012)
Parent
EducationSeoul National University (LLB, LLM)
ProfessionLawyer
Signature
NicknameGyong ()[1]
Korean name
Hangul
윤석열
Hanja
尹錫悅
Revised RomanizationYun Seongnyeol
McCune–ReischauerYun Sŏngnyŏl
IPA[jun sʰʌŋnjʌɭ][b]

Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean윤석열, pronounced [jun sʰʌŋnjʌɭ];[b] born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who served as the 13th president of South Korea from 2022 to 2025, when he was removed from office by the Constitutional Court. He was impeached by the National Assembly in 2024 after his controversial declaration of martial law. Yoon was the shortest-serving directly elected president of South Korea in its democratic history.

Born in Seoul, Yoon received his bachelor's and master's degrees in law from Seoul National University. In his capacity as chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, he played a key role in convicting former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak for abuse of power.[3][4][5] In 2019, President Moon Jae-in appointed Yoon as Prosecutor General of South Korea. Under Yoon's leadership, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office conducted embattled investigations into Cho Kuk, an influential figure in the Moon administration, that led to Cho's resignation as Minister of Justice.[6][7] Yoon's clashes with the Moon administration prior to his resignation as prosecutor general in 2021 led to his rise as a potential presidential candidate among conservative voters.

In June 2021, Yoon announced his candidacy in the 2022 presidential election. He joined the People Power Party (PPP) in July and won its nomination in November. Considered a conservative and economically liberal politician, Yoon ran on a platform promising economic deregulation and measures such as abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. He narrowly defeated Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae-myung by less than a percentage point on 9 March 2022 and assumed office as president on 10 May, becoming the first elected president to be born after the end to fighting in the Korean War. During his presidency, Yoon's foreign policy has been described as both more hawkish toward North Korea and friendlier to Japan compared to previous South Korean presidents. His handling of the Seoul Halloween crowd crush in 2022[8] and the ongoing medical crisis has attracted criticism.[9] In the 2024 parliamentary midterm elections, Yoon's party suffered a defeat, which weakened his political power.[10][11] Under Yoon's tenure, South Korea underwent democratic backsliding and a shift towards authoritarianism. He received mostly low approval ratings as president and had been described as a lame duck.[12]

On 3 December 2024, Yoon declared martial law, the first time it had been declared in South Korea since the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980. Yoon accused members of the National Assembly of supporting North Korea; however, Yoon lifted it after the Assembly passed an emergency motion nullifying the declaration a few hours later.[13] Amid widespread criticism and mass protests, an impeachment motion was introduced against Yoon the next day,[14] though it fell short of the 200 votes needed to pass.[15][16][17] He was successfully impeached and suspended from his presidential powers in a second vote ten days later, with 204 voting in favor, including 12 members of his own party.[18] Yoon subsequently became the first sitting president in South Korean history to face an arrest warrant and, in January 2025, the first to be arrested and incarcerated.[19][20] Yoon is currently being investigated for heading an insurrection, and may face the death penalty if convicted.[21] On 4 April 2025, the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld Yoon's impeachment by the National Assembly, officially terminating his presidency.[22]


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  1. ^ 정남구 (8 January 2023). '윤'과 '굥'…서울교통'굥'사 소동 [유레카]. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  2. ^ 박창원 (13 April 2021). 윤석열, '윤서결' 혹은 '윤성녈'. Kyungbuk Maeil. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Who is Yoon Seok-youl, South Korea's conservative candidate for president?". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  4. ^ Shin, Hyonhee (5 November 2021). "S.Korea's ex-top prosecutor to challenge Moon's party in 2022 presidential election". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  5. ^ Shin, Mitch (5 November 2021). "Yoon Suk-yeol Wins People Power Party's Presidential Primary". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  6. ^ Gibson, Jenna (16 October 2019). "South Korea's Cho Kuk Saga Ends". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  7. ^ Gibson, Jenna (10 December 2020). "South Korea's Prosecution Reform Saga Heads Toward Final Showdown". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Thousands attend candlelight vigils for Halloween disaster victims across South Korea". ABC News. 6 November 2022. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  9. ^ Lee, Hyo-jin (7 September 2024). "Tenacious or stubborn? Yoon's medical reform plan faces crisis". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  10. ^ Shin, Mitch (11 April 2024). "In South Korea, President Yoon's Lame Duck Era Officially Begins". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Election rout makes Yoon's 'lame duck' fears reality". The Japan Times. Jiji Press. 11 April 2024. Archived from the original on 11 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  12. ^ Kim, E. Tammy (30 September 2023). "The Worrying Democratic Erosions in South Korea". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 7 December 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  13. ^ "South Korea cabinet lifts martial law". BBC News. 3 December 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  14. ^ Kim, Hyung-jin; Kim, Tong-hyung (4 December 2024). "South Korea's opposition parties move to impeach president over sudden declaration of martial law". Associated Press. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  15. ^ Phillips, Aleks (7 December 2024). "South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol survives impeachment vote". BBC. Archived from the original on 7 December 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  16. ^ "South Korean parliament passes bill seeking counsel probe of Yoon". Al Jazeera English. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  17. ^ "South Korea president to resign despite surviving impeachment vote, party says". France 24. 8 December 2024. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  18. ^ Kim, Hyung-jin; Kim, Tong-hyung (14 December 2024). "South Korea's parliament votes to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his martial law order". AP News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  19. ^ "South Korea's Yoon arrested, says anti-graft agency". Reuters. 14 January 2025.
  20. ^ Choe, Sang-Hun (18 January 2025). "Inside South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's Life in Jail". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  21. ^ "South Korea: Yoon charged with insurrection over martial law attempt". BBC. 27 January 2025. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  22. ^ [헌재 결정문 전문] 헌재, 만장일치로 尹 탄핵소추안 인용 [[Full text of Constitutional Court decision] Constitutional Court unanimously upholds the impeachment motion against Yoon]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 4 April 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2025.

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