Text/Guan Junran
Editing/Lacquer
After an incredibly sticky election, the South Koreans are finally waiting to lead them to a new president for the next five years.
The final results released at 6:00 local time on March 10 (5:00 Beijing time) show that Yin Xiyue, the candidate of the largest opposition party, the National Power Party, narrowly defeated the ruling party's common Democratic Party candidate Li Zaiming (47.83%) with a support rate of 48.56%.
Lee Jae-ming made a speech in the early hours of the same day acknowledging the defeat and congratulating Yoon Seok-yue on his victory. He expressed the hope that Yin Xiyue can open an era beyond division and contradiction. Yoon Seok-yue later said in his speech that the result of the vote was a victory for the South Korean people. He also called on the people to unite.
Yin Xiyue held up a bouquet of flowers to celebrate after winning the election
The whole voting process was extremely exciting, and after the election was more than half of the votes, Yin Xiyue turned against the wind from the previous disadvantage and maintained it with a slight advantage to the end. On the Korean version of Twitter, the entry "Yoon Seok-yue's country" surpassed "Lee Jae-ming was elected" and hit the top of the hot search list. But in the comments of netizens, there is no lack of disappointment: "Let's directly divide the country into two halves." You live in Yin Xiyue's country, and I want to live in Lee Jae-ming's country. ”
Disappointed comments from Korean netizens
But in any case, the candidate, who wrote "Wang" in the palm of his hand during the campaign, became the 20th president of South Korea as he wished. He will begin his presidency on May 10.
On the last weekend before the ticket was issued, Yoon Seok-yue came to Seoul's Gangdong-gu district to conduct a sprint ticket solicitation. Dressed in a black suit, he confidently ascended to the podium and appealed to the voters: "People who expect regimes to change and the country to return to normal will go to the polls!" Only in this way can they (the ruling party) step down and thus create the future of the country. ”
During the campaign, Yin Xiyue wrote the word "Wang" in the palm of his hand
Against the backdrop of the red balloon symbolizing the National Power Party, Yin Xiyue made a landmark celebration action of "upper hook fist", and the scene was full of cheers.
Yin Xiyue made the iconic celebration action "Hook Fist"
In March 2021, Yoon Seok-wook resigned as South Korea's attorney general and became a "political newcomer." He flaunted that he was "disloyal to others" and "did not look at the faces of those in power," personally sent former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak to prison, and threatened to "liquidate" his current president Moon Jae-in. During the campaign, he was more focused on the "anti-Moon Zaiyin card", which was favored by the conservative class.
But before becoming president, Yoon had only one job: a prosecutor. This has worried many people. Cai Kuirong, director of the policy office of the Policy Committee of the Common Democratic Party, told Phoenix Weekly: "Yin Xiyue has never experienced the process of consultation and integration when solving complex problems. When he becomes president, South Korean society will only become more divided and the contradictions will become more serious. ”
Over the past 27 years as a prosecutor, Mr. Yin has reflected his distinctive personality in trial after trial and described him as "on a path of family destruction." But now, he still chooses to embark on this road of no return.
It took 9 years to pass the judicial exam
Yoon Seok-wook was born in December 1960 in a family of scholars in Yeoncheon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. His father was a professor of statistics at Yonsei University, and his mother taught at Ewha Womans University.
Yoon Seok-yue (first from left) poses with his family at a primary school sports day
His childhood best friends became the group of people who gave Yin Xiyue the greatest strength when his career was not going well. Among them, the American philosopher Kim Won-woo and the professor Li Zheyu of Yonsei University Law School are his best friends.
When he graduated from elementary school, Yin Xiyue took a group photo with his friends, from left to right: Jin Yuanyu, Yin Xiyue, and Li Zheyu
Kim Won-woo once recalled: "When I was a child, every time I went to a painting class, Yoon Seok-yue asked me to draw the golden bat (Japanese cartoon) that all children loved. When I was painting, I always told him to 'be quiet', but he kept shouting 'hahaha, the messenger of justice is the golden bat'. ”
Kim died in the United States in the fall of 2014, but his social media still retains the words he wrote to his best friend: "I ushered in the twilight of a hermit in a foreign country." At this time, Yin Xiyue became a 'messenger of justice' and stood in front of me like a giant. I heard him say 'I am not loyal to the individual' proclamation, and his majesty brought me to tears of excitement. In that year, Yin Xiyue was demoted for investigating the "Case of Fabricated Public Opinion by the State Council".
From left to right: Yin Xiyue, Yin Xiyue's mother, Kim Won-wook, Kim Won-woo's mother
In 1979, Yoon Seok-wook was admitted to the Faculty of Law at Seoul National University. In a yellowed college graduation photo, he wears a bachelor's hat and looks ahead with determination.
Yoon Seok-yue's graduation photo at Seoul National University
His father gave him a book when he was admitted to college, "Free to Choose, by Nobel laureate Economist Milton Friedman." Friedman writes in the book: "A society that puts equality above freedom will not get equality and freedom." Yin later said the book had a huge impact on his values.
Yin Xiyue incorporated the ideas in the book into his own policies. During the campaign, he pointed to the problem of government intervention in the market, citing Friedman's argument that "as long as they do not eat food that will get sick and die, the poor can choose cheap food below the standard of health" and was controversial.
Friedman's economic concept is also reflected in Yin Xiyue's real estate policy. He strongly criticized the Moon jae-in administration's policies, stressing the need to revisit the comprehensive property tax and ease lending restrictions for those who actually needed housing.
In 1980, Chun Doo-hwan became president of South Korea through a coup. In May of the same year, Yin Xiyue, a college student, did something that caused a sensation in the whole school. In a mock trial of the Gwangju democratization movement, he demanded that Chun Doo-hwan be sentenced to death while playing a prosecutor.
Word spread across the campus that Yoon Seok-wook had to flee to her grandmother's house in Gangneung City, Gangwon Province. "On May 18, 1980, a curfew was introduced throughout the country," he recalled. After I fled to Gangneung, the soldiers came to my house to search. This may be the first time that the fledgling Yoon Seok-yue has tried to "bring down the president."
Beginning in 1983, Yin Xiyue began a nine-year journey of judicial examinations. He passed the first round of the written test in his senior year, but failed the second round of the written test many times, and did not pass until 1991. Every time he fell off the list, Yin Xiyue would say: "Go out for a drink, and next year you will take the first exam." ”
In 1991, Yin Xiyue took a photo after taking the second round of the written examination for the judicial examination, and this time finally passed
During this period, Yin Xiyue and now-campaign rival Li Zaiming fought in the examination room. In 1986, he and Lee Zaiming took the 28th Judicial Examination together. That time, Lee passed the exam, but Yin Xiyue failed. He said with chagrin at the time: "For the last criminal procedure law exam, I turned in my papers 20 minutes in advance in order to eat pig's trotters with my friends. The final passing line was 40 points and I scored 39.66 points. If I had written for 20 more minutes I would have been able to get in, I would have gone crazy. ”
Classmates at the same time said that Yin Xiyue had not been able to pass the exam because he inherited his grandmother's "nosy" personality. In the days of preparation for the exam, Yin Xiyue became a "groomsman professional household", and some friends even gave their children to him who had no job to take care of.
Two former presidents were sent to prison
For a 32-year-old new prosecutor, the Grand Prosecutor's Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, is his pilgrimage. Inside this white building, there have been countless political storms. Yin Xiyue also embarked on the road of overthrowing the president step by step.
The Grand Prosecutor's Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul
Because of his proficiency in special investigations, Yin Xiyue is known as a "special case master" in the procuratorial system, and he is also an "iron-boned procurator" with firm convictions. His personal credo was that as long as he thought he was right, he would never compromise. When he first entered the prosecution system, his work had not improved except for drinking with his colleagues. It wasn't until 2003 that he finally waited for his chance.
In 2003, during Roh Moo-hyun's administration, Yoon Seok-yue stumbled upon a case about Mr. Roh's illegal access to campaign funds during the election. Yoon Seok-yue used this as a breakthrough to interrogate Roh Moo-hyun's financial lords and cronies one by one, and also sent Roh Moo-hyun's daughter, Lu Jingyan, to the court.
In 2008, as a dispatch prosecutor, Yoon Seok-yue participated in the "BKK Securities Company Illegal Stock Price Manipulation Case" involving then-President Lee Myung-bak. Later, as chief of section 1 of the Central Search Department, he led the investigation of the Busan Savings Bank, detaining and prosecuting Lee Myung-bak's brother, Former New World Party lawmaker Lee Sang-eun.
Yoon Seok-wook's highlight was his involvement in the investigation into the presidential election by the State Council in 2013. During the 18th presidential election, then-ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye narrowly defeated the opposition party candidate Moon Jae-in.
Later, in the investigation of the incident, Yoon Seok-yue was appointed as the head of the investigation team, and he resisted the pressure to raid the Seoul headquarters of the National State Council and conducted a high-density search for nearly 13 hours. However, when he planned to arrest Yuan Shixun, then president of the National Council, he was hampered by internal and other obstacles from within the prosecution. He was eventually expelled from the investigation team and punished with demotion.
At the end of 2016, Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfered in politics" broke out, and the demoted Yoon Seok-yue was reappointed as the head of the special prosecution team of Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfering in politics case", and then personally sent the female president to prison.
After Moon Jae-in came to power in 2017, Yoon Seok-wook was promoted to the core position of the prosecutor' office, the director of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, where he directed the investigation of "cronies interfering in government" and Lee Myung-bak's corruption case. Since then, Yin Xiyue has made a name for investigating political leaders and gradually ascended to the highest position in the procuratorial organs, the chief procurator.
Yin Xiyue, who is the Prosecutor General
"I have no reason to challenge the president." He once said on a show, "This is not a struggle with the president, but the handling of the case that has been confessed according to the law ... It is more reliable to stand on the side of the law than to power. ”
It is precisely because of Moon Jae-in's "confidant with a red face" and the promotion of former minister of justice Qiu Mei'ai that Yoon Seok-yue embarked on the road to politics. However, after Qiu Mei'ai became the minister of justice in January 2020, she took over the task of procuratorial reform, made a major move to remove the top level of the procuratorate, and fought with Yin Xiyue on issues such as reconnaissance command, and announced in December of the same year that Yin Xiyue would be suspended for two months. Although it was later ordered by the court to suspend it, it is still the first case in South Korean history.
After a bloody struggle between the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General's Office, Yin Xiyue finally carried the banner of "anti-Moon Jae-in" and became the opposition party's presidential candidate.
Yin Xiyue finally carried the banner of "anti-Moon Jae-in". Pictured is Moon Jae-in (left) and Yoon Seok-yue (right)
On March 4, 2021, in front of the building of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of the Holy Land of Hearts, Yin Xiyue left a sentence that "his duties have been exhausted" and announced his resignation. Three months later, he officially announced his candidacy for president and became a popular candidate.
On March 4, 2021, in front of the General Prosecutor's Office building, Yin Xiyue announced his resignation
"When I resigned as Attorney General, I had no idea of running for president." Yin Xiyue said in a surprising way at the time, "(Running for president) is an unfortunate thing for individuals, this is a road where families are destroyed." ”
On his later campaign path, this phrase seemed to come to naught.
Yoon Wase-wook was 52 when he married in 2012, and his wife, Kim Jian-hee, was 12 years younger than him. The marriage made Yin Xiyue's campaign path once chaotic.
Yoon Seok-wook's wife, Kim Hyun-hee
Kim Jian-hee was first dug up by the media to falsify his resume, and Yin Xiyue had to apologize, saying that he "humbly accepted the criticism of his wife by the people." Subsequently, An eight-hour phone call between Kim Ande-hee and a reporter was exposed, in which she not only bribed the other party with 100 million won, but also threatened to "send journalists who criticize her husband to prison."
The "belief in witchcraft" mentioned in the phone call also plunged Yin Xiyue and his campaign team into the "witch dispute". A self-proclaimed "Jianzhen Mage" Quan Mou participated in Yin Xiyue's campaign. After the scandal was exposed, Yin Xiyue quickly dismissed the relevant personnel.
Coincidentally, Yin Xiyue's mother-in-law Cui Mou was arrested and imprisoned for defrauding medical insurance funds. It is reported that Cui Mou, without obtaining medical qualifications, established a medical foundation with three other people in 2013 and opened a nursing hospital in Paju City, Gyeonggi Province. By 2015, they had defrauded about 2.29 billion won (about 11.79 million yuan) from the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation.
Yin Xiyue's mother-in-law Cui Mou
The reason why Yin Xiyue's approval rating has not been greatly affected is because the biggest competitor, Lee Jae-ming, is also deeply involved in the scandal. Lee Jae-ming was found to have violated the Election Law for Public Offices, with his wife enjoying "special treatment" and his son involved in online gambling, which also caused controversy.
Because of this, many people have bluntly said that this is a "worse than bad" presidential election.
Will he become the Korean version of "Trump"?
Accompanied by beer fried chicken, Hyun Joon (pseudonym), an office worker in his 40s, sat in front of the TV with his family and stayed up late to watch the election votes live.
On the morning of March 9, he went to a polling point in Seoul's Jongno-gu to cast a vote for candidate Lee Jae-myung. He told Phoenix Weekly at the time: "If Yin Xiyue is elected, I will definitely be seriously ill tomorrow!" ”
For Hyun Joon, the biggest concern at the moment is whether Yoon Seok Yue will become the Korean version of "Trump"?
During the campaign, Yoon seok-wook publicly praised the controversial former South Korean president, Chun Doo-hwan, for "doing a good job politically" and attacking foreigners from time to time, declaring that "South Koreans don't like China." He even used statements such as "systemic sexism is no longer there" to attract some conservatives, similar to former US President Trump.
He also used social media as a front, calling for "the abolition of the Ministry of the Female Family and the replacement of it with a Ministry of the Family for Gender Equality".
The Ministry of Women was established in 2001 and the Ministry of Women's Families in 2005 to promote gender equality, prevent domestic violence, sexual abuse, and sex trafficking, and improve the status of Korean women and child welfare. Some analysts believe that the National Power Party is guided by the abolition of the Women's Family Department, on the one hand, to win the favor of male voters in their 20s, and on the other hand, to seize the dominance of policy topics, including future government reforms.
At this moment, the atmosphere in South Korea is very similar to the 2016 US presidential election. Many people worry that with the rise of populism's influence in the world, will Yin Xiyue's approach to governance be the same as that of foreign politicians such as Trump and Brazilian President Bolsonaro. Instead of offering any solution, they are trying to incite division and hostility.
However, in terms of employing people, Yin Xiyue has long been prepared. He promised during the campaign: "I will select competent experts regardless of party. ”
Today, Yin Xiyue's camp gathers nearly 300 experts from various fields, including former government officials, judicial figures, and parliamentarians. After moon jae-in came to power for five years, conservatives who remained estranged from the center of power finally waited for an opportunity to gather under Yoon Seok-yue.
For Yoon Seok-yue, who has no political experience, the ones he trusts most are his best friends, classmates at Seoul National University, and legal professionals who eat together.
In his campaign camp, the main coordinating role was played by Kwon Sang-dong, chairman of the Legislative Justice Committee of the South Korean National Assembly, who is also a prosecutor. In order to invite him to join the camp, Yin Xiyue is said to have visited the rightful eastern home of Gangwon Province.
Yoon Seok-yue (left) and Quan Sex East
In addition, Yoon Seok-yue's proposals for economic policies such as increasing jobs and restoring the middle class are being discussed by a team centered on Seoul National University economics professor Kim So-young. Kim has been harshly critical of the Moon administration's "revenue-led growth" policy.
Kim Sung-han, a professor at Korea University, is one of Yoon Seok-yue's think tanks on foreign and security policy. He served as South Korea's second foreign minister (vice minister) during Lee Myung-bak's administration and was critical of the Moon jae-in administration's attitude toward u.S.-China confrontation. He argues that "equidistant diplomacy is not respected by either side of the United States or China." ”
Kim Sung-han, a professor at Korea University, is a think tank for Yoon Seok-yue's foreign and security policy
There is also speculation that Yoon Tak-min, a former president of the National Foreign Service who is well-versed in North Korea, will also enter the government. His idea of attaching importance to U.S.-Japan-South Korea cooperation in terms of security is also reflected in Yoon Seok-yue's campaign platform.
In 2021, the Common Democrats won 180 of the 300 parliamentary seats in the 21st Parliamentary Election. Although Yoon seok-yue won the election, he will have to go through the Common Democratic Party's parliament for at least two years until the next parliamentary election. In order to implement his own policy, Yin Xiyue, who has no parliamentarian experience, will inevitably have to compete.
"Between China and the United States, South Korea should be on the side of the United States"
As president, Yoon Seok-yue faces not only the mess left by the previous administration — including domestic problems such as soaring housing prices, youth unemployment, and small and medium-sized enterprises hit hard by the pandemic — but also the thorny North Korean nuclear issue and how to weigh it between its ally, the United States, and China, its largest trading partner.
Especially at a time when the war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying, the diplomatic and security issues of the South Korean election have had an unprecedented impact on the votes.
When opponents mocked Ukrainian President Zelenskiy as "a former comedian with insufficient leadership," Yoon shot back: "Zelenskiy is fighting to the death. Although South Korea has failed to support it, does the insulting remarks deserve to be a real regime? ”
Yin Xiyue pursues the policy tone of "diplomacy of national interests first", and he clearly pays more attention to diplomatic relations with the United States and Japan than China. During a televised debate, he said: "The order of the summit meeting after taking office is the president of the United States, the prime minister of Japan, the president of China and the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea." ”
At around 8:48 a.m. on the day of the election's early voting day (March 5), North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile launcher in the eastern waters. This has been interpreted by the South Korean media as north Korea is using the situation in Ukraine to "take advantage of the chaos and provocation", which also reflects North Korea's indifferent attitude to the South Korean election.
"North Korea fired 9 missiles, but (the current government) did not use the word 'provocation' once." On March 6, Yoon Seok-wook publicly criticized: "If I hand over the power to me, I will correct this disrespectful person (referring to Kim Jong-un)." ”
On March 5, 2022, North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile launcher into the eastern waters
In the view of Zheng Changchang, director of the North Korea Research Center of the Sejong Research Institute, a South Korean think tank, as the president of South Korea who does not have the command of wartime operations, Yoon Seok-yue advocates a "pre-emptive" strike against North Korea, which can only be regarded by the North Korean side as a "paper tiger" without substantial threat.
"Actually, I think North Korea would prefer to see Yoon Seok-wook elected." Zheng Chengcheng explained to Phoenix Weekly, "Yoon Seok-wook is likely to deploy the THAAD system after his election, which will further deteriorate South Korea-China relations and thus make north-China relations closer." ”
At present, Yin Xiyue's greatest confidence is to improve relations with Japan. In his view, because of the actions of the Moon jae-in government, the relationship between South Korea and Japan has deteriorated to the point where it is doubtful.
Yin Xiyue's idea of pro-Japanese is related to his childhood experience. As a child, he accompanied his father, Yin Qiwei, an economist, to live briefly in Japan. At the time, Yin attended Hitotsubashi University and served as a visiting professor at the university.
At present, Yin Xiyue is most confident of improving relations with Japan
Today, he includes experts familiar with Japan, including Park Chul-hee, a professor at Seoul National University, who is known as the first person to study Japanese studies in Korea. Park Chul-hee will work to restore channels of communication between the governments of South Korea and Japan. Even in the face of the most difficult issues of compulsory conscription of labor litigation and comfort women, Yoon Seok-yue showed full confidence: "As long as South Korea and Japan cooperate, the historical problem will be resolved when it is in the national interests of both countries." ”
However, Kim Heung-gyu, director of the U.S.-China Institute for Policy at Asia University in South Korea, pointed out to Phoenix Weekly: "At present, the leaders of South Korea and Japan do not have the political ability to calm domestic public opinion and improve South Korea-Japan relations." What's more, Japan's strategic vision is different from the past, and it does not attach importance to South Korea. Even with U.S. pressure, Japan will not easily agree to improve relations with South Korea. ”
Yin Xiyue's attitude toward China has worried many Chinese people even more.
The last time he made overtures to China was in October 2020 when he met with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming. As prosecutor general, he said he hoped to "strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of law enforcement" and congratulated the 71st anniversary of the founding of New China. But since the day he became a politician, Yin Xiyue has frequently played the "anti-China card."
Recently, Yoon Seok-yue has made provocative remarks such as "South Koreans hate China". In televised debates, he likened the THAAD system to a necessary defensive technique in combat and advocated additional deployment. Kim Shenghan, his diplomatic think tank, also said that although the deployment of THAAD may cause South Korea economic losses, "it is a matter of life and death, and the Chinese side seems to be unable to understand this."
Yoon Seok-yue even plans to strengthen South Korea's "nuclear deterrence" through alliance consultations after being elected president. He has said that if South Korea encounters a "threat," it will ask the United States to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea or seek a "nuclear sharing" agreement with the United States.
In response to Yin Xiyue's inappropriate remarks on China, Xing Haiming immediately clarified his position, saying: "The ROK-US alliance cannot harm China's interests" and "China pursues a defensive national defense policy and has never regarded South Korea as China's imaginary enemy."
On February 9 this year, Yoon Seok-yue wrote in South Korea's Foreign Affairs magazine: "In the Sino-US competition, South Korea should be on the side of the United States." Rather than passively adapting to and responding to changing international circumstances, South Korea should take the lead in promoting a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific order. In his view, due to the intensification of Sino-US contradictions, South Korea's inherent diplomatic tone of "the economy depends on China, and the security depends on the United States" will be difficult to maintain.
South Korea's Foreign Affairs magazine published An article by Yoon Seok-yue
In this regard, South Korean diplomatic and security experts have advised that South Korea should cautiously participate in the anti-China alliance that characterizes China as a "direct threat", and that "participating in the 'Group of Four', known as the 'Asian version of NATO', will lead to unnecessary tension with China." Some experts have also cautioned that "rather than choosing only one side [between China and the United States], South Korea should make choices that are in its national interest according to specific circumstances, so as to ensure strategic space for independent action." ”
However, Yin Xiyue, who is eager to be close to the United States, recently turned down an interview with Time magazine in the United States, and perhaps he is not ready to stand on the world stage.
When Yoon Seok-yue resigned as attorney general and took the top spot on the presidential candidate's most popular list, the South Korean media called it the "Yoon Seok-yue phenomenon." Whether Yoon Seok-yue, now president, can create new political value and have the leadership to reshape South Korea's political landscape remains a huge question.
(Zhang Donghui and Cui Xiang also contributed to this article)
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