South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol: From rising star to jailed ex-president
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment on Feb 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL – South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol capped a remarkable fall from grace on Feb 19 when he was sentenced to life imprisonment
A self-styled anti-corruption crusader, Yoon rose from star prosecutor to South Korean president in just a few years.
But he would sow the seeds of his downfall on Dec 3, 2024, when he abruptly declared martial law
The hardline conservative was later impeached, arrested and charged with a litany of crimes
A panel of judges at Seoul Central District Court completed Yoon’s humiliation on Feb 19, sentencing the 65-year-old to life in prison after finding him guilty of insurrection.
Born in Seoul in 1960, months before a military coup, Yoon studied law and went on to become a public prosecutor and anti-corruption crusader.
He played an instrumental role in Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, being impeached in 2016 and later convicted of abuse of power and imprisoned.
As the country’s top prosecutor in 2019, he also indicted a senior aide of Park’s successor, Moon Jae-in, in a fraud and bribery case.
The conservative People Power Party, in opposition at the time, liked what it saw and convinced Yoon to become its presidential candidate.
He won in March 2022
Scandal-plagued
Yoon was never much loved by the public, and scandals came thick and fast.
They included his administration’s handling of a 2022 crowd crush
Voters also blamed Yoon’s administration for inflation, a lagging economy and increasing constraints on freedom of speech.
He was accused of abusing presidential vetoes, notably to strike down a Bill paving the way for a special investigation into alleged stock manipulation by his wife Kim Keon Hee.
Yoon’s reputation was further hit in 2023 when his wife was secretly filmed accepting a designer handbag
Yoon insisted it would have been rude to refuse.
His mother-in-law Choi Eun-soon was sentenced to one year in prison for forging financial documents in a real estate deal.
She was released in May 2024.
American Pie
As president, Yoon maintained a tough stance against nuclear-armed North Korea and bolstered ties with Seoul’s traditional ally, the US.
In 2023, he sang Don McLean’s American Pie
But his efforts to restore ties with South Korea’s former colonial ruler, Japan, did not sit well with many at home.
Yoon had been a lame-duck president since the opposition Democratic Party won a majority in parliamentary elections in April 2024
In his televised address declaring martial law, Yoon railed against “anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness”, and his office subsequently cast the move as a bid to break legislative gridlock.
Since then, he has garnered support from extreme religious figures and right-wing YouTubers. AFP
