Yoon Suk-yeol is a South Korean politician who has been serving as the 13th and current president of South Korea since 2022.
49 Facts About Yoon Suk-yeol
2.
In June 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol announced his candidacy in the 2022 South Korean presidential election.
3.
Yoon Suk-yeol narrowly defeated Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae-myung on 9 March 2022 and assumed office as president on 10 May 2022.
4.
Yoon Suk-yeol was born in Bomun-dong, Seongbuk District, Seoul, in 1960 and raised in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun District.
5.
Yoon Suk-yeol's father, Yoon Ki-jung, was born in Nonsan and is a professor emeritus of economics at Yonsei University and a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea.
6.
Yoon Suk-yeol's mother, Choi Jeong-ja, was born in Gangneung and was a lecturer at Ewha Womans University before leaving the position after getting married.
7.
Yoon Suk-yeol attended Daegwang Elementary School and Joongrang Middle School, transferring to Choongam Middle School after finishing eighth grade.
8.
Yoon Suk-yeol is a colleague of Moon Kang-bae, a lawyer who described Yoon as an "extrovert and faithful" person.
9.
Yoon Suk-yeol was exempted in 1982 from national service due to anisometropia.
10.
Yoon Suk-yeol later added that he was unable to obtain a driving licence because of the condition.
11.
Yoon Suk-yeol passed the first part of the bar exam in Year 4 of university but failed the second.
12.
Yoon Suk-yeol finally passed the bar in 1991, in the same graduating class as Democratic Party assemblyman and minister of justice Park Beom-kye.
13.
Yoon Suk-yeol started his career at Daegu Public Prosecutor's Office in 1994.
14.
Yoon Suk-yeol headed the Special Branch and Central Investigation Department, both of which investigate corruption-related cases.
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Yoon Suk-yeol sought the prosecution of the former head of the NIS, Won Sei-hoon for violating the Public Official Election Act.
16.
Yoon Suk-yeol accused Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn of influencing his investigation.
17.
Yoon Suk-yeol later became head of investigations in the special prosecutor team of Park Young-soo, which investigated allegations pertaining to the 2016 Choi Soon-sil scandal involving Choi, Samsung vice-chairman Lee Jae-yong and then-president Park Geun-hye, which led to the impeachment of the president in December 2016.
18.
On 17 June 2019, Yoon Suk-yeol was nominated as prosecutor general, replacing Moon Moo-il.
19.
Yoon Suk-yeol's nomination was welcomed by the ruling Democratic Party and the Party for Democracy and Peace, but was opposed by the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareunmirae Party.
20.
Yoon Suk-yeol had been considered a potential presidential candidate for the 2022 presidential election since the aftermath of the Cho Kuk controversies, appearing as a significant candidate in general election opinion polls since at least January 2020.
21.
On 4 March 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol tendered his resignation as the prosecutor-general, which was accepted by President Moon.
22.
On 29 June 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol officially announced his candidacy in the 2022 presidential election.
23.
On 30 July 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol officially joined the conservative People Power Party, which is currently the main opposition party in South Korea.
24.
Yoon Suk-yeol's welcoming ceremony into the People Power Party notably did not include recently elected party leader Lee Jun-seok, who had been outside of Seoul at the time.
25.
Yoon Suk-yeol advocated deregulating food safety standards because, in his opinion, "poor people should be allowed to eat substandard food for lower prices", citing economist Milton Friedman's 1980 book Free to Choose: A Personal Statement as the inspiration for the idea.
26.
On 2 September 2021, news website Newsverse reported that during his time as prosecutor general, Yoon Suk-yeol had allegedly ordered a senior prosecutor Son Jun-sung and politician Kim Woong to file politically motivated criminal complaints against Democratic Party politicians ahead of the 2020 legislative elections in an attempt to sway the elections.
27.
Yoon Suk-yeol denied the allegations and reported informant Cho Sung-eun and Director of the National Intellience Service Park Jie-won to the CIO.
28.
The remarks came during a meeting with People Power Party officials in Busan, during which Yoon Suk-yeol said that "many people still consider Chun as having done well in politics, except the military coup and the Gwangju Uprising", later adding that he believed even people in Honam, the geographic area including Gwangju, felt the same way.
29.
On 5 November 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol officially won the nomination of the People Power Party for the 2022 presidential election.
30.
The win came after Yoon Suk-yeol fought off a surge in support for rival candidate Hong Joon-pyo in the latter weeks of the primary.
31.
On 7 November 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol stated that if elected president he would pardon former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, both of whom were serving lengthy prison sentences for corruption.
32.
Yoon Suk-yeol narrowly won the 2022 presidential election that took place on 9 March 2022.
33.
In 2023, Yoon Suk-yeol attempted to raise South Korea's maximum weekly working hours from 52 to 69.
34.
In late July 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol proposed the creation of a "police bureau", in order to ensure greater government oversight of the police force.
35.
Yoon Suk-yeol himself criticised the protests, saying, "Like many, I am deeply concerned about the collective protest of the police chiefs," and calling it a "serious breach" of police discipline.
36.
Yoon Suk-yeol has met with fellow leaders, such as during the NATO Summit Madrid 2022, becoming the first South Korean leader to do so.
37.
Yoon Suk-yeol attended the UN General Assembly and Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York City; he met with US President Joe Biden.
38.
Yoon Suk-yeol's office denies that he was talking about Biden or the US Congress.
39.
Conservative Lee Un-ju criticized Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks, saying, "It is destroyed national pride".
40.
Yoon Suk-yeol opposes economic interventionism by the government and is generally regarded as pro-business, and as a fiscal conservative.
41.
Yoon Suk-yeol has cited economist Milton Friedman and Friedman's 1980 book Free to Choose: A Personal Statement as a major influence on his belief in economic liberalism.
42.
President Yoon Suk-yeol entered office with a pledge to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
43.
Yoon Suk-yeol announced that the new government would not address gender as a collective, but rather focus on and respond to specific individual issues.
44.
Yoon Suk-yeol is a conservative nationalist and has expressed active support for the possibility of South Korea having indigenous nuclear weapons.
45.
On 22 September 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol stated that he will ask that the United States redeploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea if there is a threat from North Korea.
46.
On 12 November 2021, Yoon Suk-yeol indicated that he would be open to more US THAAD missile deployments in South Korea.
47.
President Yoon Suk-yeol has been married to Kim Keon-hee since 2012.
48.
Yoon Suk-yeol's wife has stated that she prefers the term first spouse instead of the first lady.
49.
Yoon Suk-yeol is the fourth South Korean president who is a Catholic, after his previous predecessors Moon Jae-in, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.