Surviving in Korea: Elections in Korea
Welcome back to Surviving in the World (SIW), your biweekly newsletter written by students, for students interested in global affairs. We always strive to present select topics in global news in an easy-to-understand format.
In today’s letter, we feature a profile of Yoon Suk-yeol, the newly elected South Korean president, brought to you by Keonhee (Andrew) Ahn, SIW’s Editor in Chief.
Word Count: 593 / Time: 5 minute read.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol at his post-election press conference.
(Source: Photography by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty images)
The results for the 2022 Korean Presidential Election are in. There was fierce competition between the top two candidates Yoon Seok-youl and Lee Jae-myung , but Yoon ended up winning with 48.56% of the votes, leading by a thin margin of 0.73%.
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Yoon’s Strength: Political outsider independent of party politics. He has repeatedly stated "I am not loyal to a specific person" during his tenure.
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As the Suwon District Prosecutor during the disgraced Park Geun-hye administration (of the conservative party), Yoon was demoted for trying to investigate the president’s crime.
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He was later appointed by the subsequent Moon Jae-in administration (of the liberal party) as the Prosecutor General in 2019. But he later resigned in 2021 after being pressured by members of Moon’s party for trying to investigate Cho Kuk, the Minister of Justice elected by President Moon, for corruption.
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Yoon’s Weaknesses:
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Yoon's lack of political experience is his primary weakness as he has spent most of his life as a prosecutor.
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The conflict with his wife, Kim Gun-hee, is also a mountain to overcome. Kim Gun-hee has faked her academic achievements in order to become a professor. Many critics have suggested that Yoon might have taken part in his wife's crimes.
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​One Good Read: From Cold War to Hot Peace by Michael McFaul
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What it is about: From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia is a book written by Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia, that describes the progression of US-Russia relations throughout his career.
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Through the book, McFaul walks us through the Russian Reset, which was an attempt orchestrated in part by McFaul in the Obama administration to improve US-Russia relations and its eventual breakdown with the election of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin’s anti-West tilt.
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Who the author is: Michael McFaul is currently a Professor of International Studies at Stanford University. He has held various positions in government prior to joining academia, serving as the US ambassador to Russia and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council​​
Photo of Professor McFaul. (Source: Photograph by Dmitry Kostyukov)
Why you should care: The emerging crisis over Ukraine has put US-Russia relations at the center of the world once more.
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McFaul’s keen observations as both an academic and public servant provides us with information regarding the progression of US-Russia relations, which acts as helpful background when consuming all the recent media coverage on the war in Ukraine.
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He also touches on the 2014 Crimea Crisis and the questionable relationship between President Trump and Putin cultivated during Trump’s term.
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We as international students should be mindful of such foreign events to become global citizens.
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