Yoon Suk-yeol (, born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and former public prosecutor. Yoon is the 13th President of South Korea since 2022. He was Prosecutor General of South Korea from 2019 to 2021. As the chief prosecutor of South Korea, Yoon was important in finding former President Park Geun-hye guilty for abuse of power.
Early life
Yoon was born and raised in Seoul. In 1979, he graduated from Chungam High School in Seoul. In 1983, he graduated from Seoul National University with an undergraduate degree in law. He then did graduate work at the same university, earning a master's degree from the School of Law in 1988. He was admitted to the bar in 1991.
Professional career
From 1994 through 2001, he worked at district prosecutors offices in Daegu, Seoul and Busan.
In 2008, Yoon became the head prosecutor of Nonsan branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors Office. From 2009 through 2011, he worked in the Supreme Prosecutor's Office.
In 2013, he rose to head prosecutor of the Yeoju branch of the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office, where he led a special investigation of an opinion- rigging case involving the National Intelligence Service.
In the years 2014 to 2016, he worked at the high prosecutor's offices in Daegu and Daejeon.
In 2016, he led the special probe on the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, which eventually led to her impeachment. In 2017, he became the head of the Seoul Central Prosecutor's Office.
In 2019, he became Prosecutor General of the nation. He resigned that post in March of 2021.
Presidency (since 2022) Yoon was the nominee for the conservative People Power Party for president in the 2022 election. He defeated Lee Jae-myung by a small amount of votes and was elected president on 9 March 2022.
On 20 March 2022, he announced that he would make his presidential office in the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan District, Seoul, instead of the Blue House, which opened as a public park on 10 May 2022. In his inauguration he said he would support talks with North Korea, however called them a threat because of recent missile testing activity.
In late July 2022, Yoon said he wanted to create a "police bureau" so that his government can have better control over police in the country. Many police officers and chiefs did not support this and protested the decision, with Yoon threatening to fire them and put them in jail.
Yoon's approval rating dropped to less than 30 percent in July 2022, after three months in office, because of the country's rising inflation.
Controversy
Yoon Suk-yeol went to the 7th financial commitment meeting of the Global Fund hosted by Joe Biden and met him there. Yoon Suk-yeol talked with Biden for only 1 minute. Many people criticized Yoon Suk-yeol, because he spent a million dollars to meet him but did nothing. The president fell short of expectations of people who hoped that he solved the problems of missing subsidy on Korean electric car and economic labor. Even though it was not a summit, it seems that people were even more disappointed because it was not easy to talk to the president.
Also, Yoon Suk-yeol cursing Joe Biden on the way out of 7th Financial Pledge Meeting of the Global Fund hosted by Biden was videoed and became an issue. Yoon Suk-yeol claims that he said “Biden would be ashamed if his party doesn’t approve his agenda.” However, Yoon Suk Yeol claimed to have used the word "flying," not Biden, whereas many people are saying that he said Biden for sure.
Personal life
Yoon married Kim Keon-hee in 2012.