In terms of party activities, Yoon Seok-yue is a "newcomer" with a slightly thin experience, and the "anti-Moon Jae-in government symbol" has become the main source of his political assets.
| Author: Yang Xueyi, Yu Bing, Chen Shangwen
| Editor: Yu Bing
| Editor: Su Rui Lingyun
South Korea's election, known as the "most unpredictable in history," has finally settled.
In the early morning of March 10, local time, the results of south Korea's 20th presidential election were released, and Yoon Seok-yue, the presidential candidate of the largest opposition national power, was elected president.
According to the vote counting data released by the Central Election Management Committee of South Korea, Yoon Seok-yue received 16.39 million votes, with a vote rate of 48.56%. He defeated South Korea's ruling Common Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, who was once seen as a popular "successor" to incumbent Moon Jae-in, by a 0.73 percent margin.
· Screenshot of voting data
After confirming his election, Yin Xiyue said that today's election results are not so much the victory of me and the National Forces, as well as the victory of An Zhexiu and the Kuomintang, but rather the victory of the great people.
Yoon Seok-wook will be the first president in South Korea to have no parliamentary experience since he was directly elected president, and he won his first public election and was elected president after only 8 months in politics.
However, the end of this election does not mean that the turmoil in South Korean politics has subsided and the feud has ended. Rather, it may just be the beginning of a bigger storm.
Lee Jae-ming and Yoon Seok-yue (right). (Infographic)
Confrontation and revenge with Moon Jae-in
People who pay attention to South Korean politics are not unfamiliar with Yoon Seok-yue's name.
He is an important figure in the investigation of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfering in politics" and has set off a chaotic situation in South Korea's "legal dispute".
In South Korea, the political system is divided into three parts: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Among them, although the Prosecutor's Office is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, it is a relatively independent system that lacks checks and balances.
Building of the Attorney's Office of the Republic of Korea. (Image source: South Korea's Nusis News Agency)
This "independence" means that the Prosecutor's Office has great power.
Due to the excessive power, the procurator general has long been solely in charge of the highest power of investigation and prosecution of crimes, such as the power to investigate, prosecute, investigate and command the police, the power of compulsory search, and the right to maintain the prosecution, so the procuratorial organs are often jokingly called the "procuratorial republic" by the Korean people.
In 2016, after the outbreak of Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfering in politics", Yoon Seok-wook was appointed chief prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, leading an investigation team of 20 prosecutors, and arresting Park Geun-hye, Choi Soon-sil, and Lee Jae-yong, vice president of Samsung Electronics, and others, and became famous for a while.
Later, he gained moon appreciation for his performance in investigating the bribery case of former President Lee Myung-bak and was promoted all the way to the position of prosecutor general. In June 2019, Moon personally handed Yoon Seok-yue the appointment letter of attorney general, calling him "our chief Yin."
Former South Korean Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak ( right ) have been jailed since leaving office. (Infographic)
On the other hand, the mechanism of the procurator's monopoly of power has always made all parties dissatisfied, and the relevant corruption cases that have been exposed have emerged one after another, including senior prosecutor Jin Guangjun suspected of accepting huge bribes, and procurators threatening to induce female suspects to have sexual relations.
These events once caused a shock in South Korea, directly leading to the resignation of former Attorney General Han Sang-dae.
South Korea has had several judicial reforms before, but the road to reform has never been smooth. Moon Jae-in is determined to move the boulder to weaken the power of the attorney general and cause Yin Xiyue's dissatisfaction.
On March 4, 2021, Yoon Seok-woo angrily stated that his duties at the procuratorate had been exhausted and that he would resign as South Korea's prosecutor general.
From the photos at that time, it is not difficult to see that Yin Xiyue can hardly hide his anger and disappointment. Subsequently, the Blue House relayed the news of President Moon Jae-in's acceptance of his words through a press conference.
Three months later, Yoon Seok-wook officially announced his candidacy for president of South Korea, choosing "Achieving regime change" as the slogan.
On March 4, 2021, Yin Xiyue (first from right) announced that he would resign as Attorney General. (Infographic)
The "Yin Xiyue Effect" in the Political Arena
In fact, even if he does not resign, Yin Xiyue will end the two-year term of the procurator general in July last year. The moment of resignation also became his "highlight moment", which gained many voter "fans".
"Asia Daily" commented that Yin Xiyue, who is deeply involved in the procuratorial system, is now engaged in politics, and the former "sword bearer" is now standing on the testing platform of public opinion and has become a popular candidate.
According to data from a number of polling agencies, Yoon Seok-yue's approval rating has risen all the way since then, and even soared to the first place, becoming a "dark horse" in the South Korean election.
South Korean media summed it up as the "Yoon Seok-yue effect."
But the report also pointed out that in terms of political party activities, Yoon Seok-yue is a "newcomer" with a slightly thin experience, and "anti-Moon Jae-in government symbols" have become the main source of his political assets.
Born into a wealthy family in Seoul, Yoon Seok-wook's mother was a lecturer at Ewha Womans University, a prestigious girls' school in South Korea, and his father, Yoon Ki-jung, was one of the founding fathers of the department of applied statistics at Yonsei University in South Korea and an honorary professor at the school.
After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Faculty of Law at Seoul National University. In 1991, Yoon Seok-yue, who had failed eight judicial examinations, finally passed the 33rd judicial examination in South Korea. Three years later, at the age of 34, he started his career as a prosecutor from the Daegu District Prosecutor's Office after receiving his completion certificate at the Korea Judicial Training Institute.
· Yin Xiyue in his youth. (Infographic)
In the procuratorial system, Yin Xiyue gives the impression that his style is more decent.
Many experts believe that Yin Xiyue has a "big brother style" in terms of being a person, likes to help his subordinates, and as long as he is determined to do something, he will stick to it.
In particular, in 2013, when he investigated the involvement of the National State Council in the presidential election, he was appointed as the head of the investigation team and conducted nearly 13 hours of high-density searches at the Seoul headquarters of the National Health Agency.
At that time, Yin Xiyue originally planned to arrest Yuan Shixun, then president of the State Council, but was demoted to a lower position. After that, he worked in the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office and the Daegu and Daejeon High Prosecutor's Offices, but he was unable to be promoted.
Later, through the Park Geun-hye case, Yoon Seok-wook left the South Korean people with a fair and resilient personal image of not succumbing to any pressure. This image of him is very popular with Moon's opposition.
In June 2021, at just 36 years old, Lee Joon-seok became the head of South Korea's largest opposition party, the National Power Party. Subsequently, he lobbied Yin Xiyue to join his camp.
A month later, Yoon Seok-yue joined the National Forces Party as its presidential candidate and played the "anti-Moon Jae-in" card.
On February 9 this year, he even incited voter sentiment, saying that if elected president, he would conduct a liquidation investigation into the Moon Jae-in government, which is believed by many to be Yoon's public announcement that if he comes to power, he will take political revenge on Moon.
On November 8, 2019, at the fifth anti-corruption meeting held in the Blue House, Moon Jae-in and other participants saluted the national flag, with yin Xiyue, then prosecutor general in the second from the right. (Image source: Yonhap News Agency)
After entering the Blue House, there is an urgent need for "make-up lessons"
Wang Junsheng, a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the China Peripheral Strategy Research Office, said in an interview with the Global People reporter that Yin Xiyue's election can be said to be inseparable from the overall atmosphere to a certain extent, and it is the opportunity and the general environment that have made him victorious.
Wang Junsheng said: "Looking at the international community, the entire Western world is conservative, and the atmosphere in South Korea is the same, which is reflected in the economy, public opinion and other aspects, and the overall atmosphere is very favorable to it." As a candidate for the general election of conservative forces, he has the overall environment and the support of relevant parties, coupled with the fact that he speaks more directly as a prosecutor, and it is easy to leave a deep impression on the voters. ”
Yin Xiyue, who has turned from a prosecutor to a politician, has relatively little experience in domestic and foreign affairs, which also means that he is likely to need to go through a period of run-in and "make-up lessons" after he joins the Blue House.
Wang Junsheng said: "From the domestic level in South Korea, Yoon Seok-yue, who has no baggage, may promote reforms, so what some governments wanted to do but did not do before, he may let it go." ”
"From the diplomatic level, The election of Yoon Seok-yue may mean a major change in South Korea's diplomacy." Although the language of the election does not represent that he will fully implement it after he takes office, based on some of his personal statements and the support behind the party, the future will show a relatively different diplomatic approach from the Moon jae-in government. ”
"Specifically, on the Korean Peninsula, the Yoon Seok-yue administration is likely to be more inclined to exert pressure on the DPRK, and its DPRK policy may follow the US policy toward the DPRK."
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and south Korea, how will Yin Xiyue's election affect China-SOUTH Korea relations?
Wang Junsheng said: "The starting point for promoting the development of bilateral relations after Yoon Seok-yue came to power is bound to be the national interest of south Korea. Based on this, he will attach importance to the development of China-ROK relations and inter-Korean relations. Its diplomatic direction may be to prioritize the development of the ROK-U.S. alliance. Yin Xiyue may intentionally or unintentionally cooperate with the United States, or get closer to the United States. ”
In addition, Yin Xiyue is not familiar with many policies and may be too much influenced by his subordinates. Based on his personality, if he particularly trusts his subordinates and their subordinates are conservative in their diplomacy, they may translate their ideas into South Korea's foreign policy. ”
Some commentators believe that China and the ROK are not rivals, but partners with intertwined interests, complementary advantages and great potential. This should not be changed because the Blue House has changed its owner.
On March 7, chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in response to a question from a South Korean reporter, quoted a South Korean proverb: "Three copper plates buy a house, and a thousand and two gold buy neighbors," releasing China's goodwill and sincerity in valuing China-South Korea relations.