Who is Yoon Suk Yeol, the leader behind the political crisis that has shaken South Korea?

Two years ago, Yoon Suk Yeol achieved one of the narrowest triumphs in South Korean political history. He defeated his rival by less than one percentage point, the closest margin of victory since 1987, a result that was interpreted as a rejection of the then-ruling center-left Democratic Party, rather than an embrace of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP). That narrow margin would prove to be a harbinger of the road full of obstacles that he would have to face in governing. Yoon is the first South Korean leader who has not had control of the National Assembly at any time during his term. As of January this year, only 29.2% of the projects submitted to parliament by his Cabinet had been approved, according to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In his inaugural address, Yoon promised to “rebuild this great nation” into one that “truly belongs to the people.” His two years in office, however, have been marked by a sharp decline in popularity, a dysfunctional government, and persistent legislative gridlock.

Yoon, a three-decade prosecutor, won the 2022 race as a political newcomer. His victory also marked a surprise return to power for the PPP after a heavy defeat in the 2017 election. That election followed the 2016 impeachment of former conservative president Park Geun-hye over a grotesque corruption scandal that exposed the leader’s ties to shamanism. Tens of thousands of people had taken to the streets every week in major South Korean cities to demand the departure of the then head of state. Paradoxically, as prosecutor general, Yoon was responsible for Park being found guilty and sent to jail. He also played a key role in the prosecution of former president Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013).

Yoon’s leap into politics would not be understood without his career as a public arm of the law, an upright enforcer in constant struggle against corrupt politicians. As a young man, he wanted to be a Protestant pastor, but it was his father, a respected economics professor, who convinced him to leave that path and study law. After 25 years as a prosecutor in Seoul, in 2019 the then South Korean president, the liberal Moon Jae-in, promoted him to prosecutor general. His relentless anti-corruption crusade led to the imprisonment of former presidents Park and Lee, as well as the de facto leader of the Samsung conglomerate, Lee Jae-in, over a major bribery and coercion scandal.

The relationship with Moon, his predecessor in office, began to sour after Yoon launched an investigation into the former president’s justice minister. This, in any case, provided a boost to his popularity: after his resignation as prosecutor general in March 2021, Yoon secured the presidential candidacy of the conservative PPP.

That aura of incorruptibility has been fading as quickly as his popularity among the public. Some of the biggest controversies of Yoon’s mandate have concerned the first lady, Kim Keon-hee. At the end of last year, images came to light in which she was seen accepting a Christian Dior handbag valued at $2,200 as a gift, violating South Korean laws that prohibit both public officials and their spouses from accepting items valued at more than $750. President Yoon called the video, which was recorded with a hidden camera, a “political machination.” Kim had previously been accused of falsifying her resume — which led her to publicly apologize — academic plagiarism, and stock manipulation.

Yoon’s slide in the polls marked his party’s clear defeat in parliamentary elections held in April, when the PPP won 108 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, far behind the opposition center-left Democratic Party, which secured a comfortable majority with 175 seats. “I will humbly accept the will of the people expressed in the general election,” Yoon said at the time. Today, however, his days at the helm of the country could be numbered, after a coalition of lawmakers from opposition parties said Wednesday that they planned to propose a bill to remove Yoon following his surprise declaration of martial law, which was later revoked. The proposal is due to be voted on within 72 hours. “Parliament should focus on immediately suspending the president’s affairs in order to pass a bill to remove him as soon as possible,” Hwang Un-ha, one of the coalition’s lawmakers, told reporters.

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