Biography

Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean: 윤석열; born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and attorney who is the 13th (20th presidency) and current president of South Korea since 2022. A member of the People Power Party, he previously served as the prosecutor general of South Korea from 2019 to 2021 under his presidential predecessor Moon Jae-In.

Born in Seoul, Yoon attended Seoul National University. In his capacity as the 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. Yoon was appointed prosecutor general of South Korea by President Moon Jae-in in July 2019. During Yoon's leadership, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office conducted embattled investigations into Cho Kuk, an influential figure in the Moon administration, that would lead to Cho's resignation as minister of Justice. Yoon's clashes with the Moon administration until his resignation as prosecutor general in March 2021 led to his rise as a prominent presidential candidate among conservative voters, ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

In June 2021, Yoon announced his candidacy in the 2022 South Korean presidential election. He joined the right-wing People Power Party (PPP) in July, and won the PPP nomination in November. Considered conservative and economically liberal, Yoon ran on a platform promising economic deregulation and other measures such as abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Yoon narrowly defeated Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae-myung on 9 March 2022 and assumed office as president on 10 May 2022. Yoon's foreign policy has been described as hawkish towards North Korea, and more friendly to neighboring country Japan than that of previous South Korean presidents.