Conservative opposition leader Yoon Suk-yeol has been elected president of South Korea, Yonhap news agency announced, after his ruling opponent, liberal Lee Jae-myung, conceded defeat.
After a very fierce campaign, former Prosecutor Yoon of the People’s Power Party (PPP) was declared the winner and the main opponent, Lee, of the Democratic Party of current president Moon Jae-in, admitted defeat.
“This is a victory for the great people of South Korea,” Yoon declared to supporters who chanted his name in the National Assembly.
His victory anticipates a tougher foreign policy, particularly with regard to North Korea, which has carried out a record amount of weapons tests this year.
On Thursday, the president-elect pledged to “toughly address” the threat posed by the Kim Jong Un regime in North Korea.
“But the door to dialogue will always be open,” he told supporters after visiting the national cemetery in Seoul.
Yoon is considered a hard-line supporter of Pyongyang’s communist regime and has cited the possibility of pre-emptive bombing if necessary.
After a campaign dominated by slander between the two main candidates, voter turnout was 77.1% in this country of around 52 million people.
The two parties are at ideologically opposite poles. Yoon’s victory will mark the beginning of a more conservative regime after five years under the outgoing president’s moderate liberals.
The result also represents a turning point for the PPP, which was shaken in 2017 after its leader and country president Park Geung-hye was ousted and jailed on corruption charges before being pardoned.
Yoon, 61, a former prosecutor and newcomer to politics, has gained notoriety for his relentless investigations into corruption issues in the state sphere.
Her most controversial proposal is to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, claiming that, despite evidence to the contrary, South Korean women do not suffer “systemic gender discrimination”. Last June, he was designated a PPP candidate.
Exit polls showed a gender divide among voters under 30. In this age group, 58.7% of men voted for Yoon and 36.3% for Lee. In contrast, 58% of women in the same age group voted for Lee and 33.8% for Yoon.
“The wide support that Yoon has among young people is absolutely terrifying from a woman’s point of view,” scholar Keung Yoon Bae told AFP.
Yoon Suk-yeol proposes to relax labor laws, including minimum wage and working hours.
– Challenges –
South Korea, an economic powerhouse of 52 million people, is experiencing a wave of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, with 342,446 new cases reported as of Wednesday.
More than one million South Koreans who have tested positive are currently in isolation at home. The electoral law was amended last month to allow them to vote separately at the end of the day.
According to polls, rising property prices in Seoul, economic inequalities and high youth unemployment were top concerns for voters.
Yoon has spoken out in favor of purchasing more US THAAD anti-missile ammunition, although the military build-up could provoke retaliation from China, South Korea’s main trading partner.
“Your lack of political experience will have repercussions on foreign policy,” predicts Minseon Ku, a professor of political science at Ohio State University.
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