Yoon Seok-youl

Yoon Seok-youl (Korean: 윤석열, born December 18, 1960) is a South Korean lawyer, prosecutor and the current Prosecutor General of South Korea.

In this Korean name, the family name is Yoon.
Yoon Seok-youl
윤석열
Prosecutor General of South Korea
Assumed office
25 July 2019
PresidentMoon Jae-in
Preceded byMoon Moo-il
Personal details
Born (1961-02-03) 3 February 1961
Seodaemun District, Seoul, South Korea
CitizenshipSouth Korean
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s)Kim Kun-hui
ParentsYoon Ki-joong (father)
Alma materSeoul National University
OccupationLawyer, prosecutor
Yoon Seok-youl
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationYun Seok-yeol
McCune–ReischauerYun Sŏkyŏl

Early life and education

Yoon Seok-youl was born in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun District, Seoul in 1960.[1][2] Some suggested that he was from Honam, but it was reported as a rumour.[1][3] His father, Yoon Ki-joong, is a retired educator from Daegu graduated from Yonsei University and Hitotsubashi University who later established the Korean Statistical Society and now as a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea.[1] His mother was born in Gangneung and a lecturer of Ewha Womans University who quitted after her marriage.[1]

Yoon attended to Chungam High School[3] and studied law at Seoul National University.[1][4][5] He is a colleague to Moon Kang-bae, a lawyer who described Yoon as a "extrovert and faithful" person.[1] Shortly after the Gwangju Uprising, Yoon and his colleagues held a mock trial, where he acted as the prosecutor demanded the death penalty for the President of the Republic Chun Doo-hwan.[1][4] Following the mock trial, Yoon had to escape to Gangwon Province.[1][4]

Yoon was exempted from the national service due to anisometropia in 1982.[6] Regarding the disease, he later added he could not to get a driving licence.[6]

Yoon passed the first bar when he was in Year 4 but failed the second.[1][4] He kept failed for 9 years; the reason was unsure but widely regarded as the mock trial against Chun Doo-hwan.[1] He finally passed the bar in 1991[1][3][4][5][2] along with Park Beom-kye, a Democratic MP.[1]

Career

Yoon started his career at Daegu Public Prosecutor’s Office in 1994.[1][3][4][5][2] He headed the Special Branch and Central Investigation Department, both investigate corruption-related cases.[1] In 1999, he arrested an Assistant Commissioner Park Hui-won who was involved in corruption[7][2] despite of strong objections from bureaucrats of the Kim Dae-jung cabinet.[1]

In January 2002, Yoon shortly worked as a lawyer at Bae, Kim & Lee but quit as he felt he is not suitable to hold the position.[2] He immediately returned as a prosecutor and arrested pro-Roh Moo-hyun figures i.e. Ahn Hee-jung and Kang Keum-won.[1] In 2006, he apprehended Chung Mong-koo for his complicity in slush fund incident of Hyundai Motor Company.[1][2] In 2008, he worked for the independent counsel team resolving BBK incident related to the President Lee Myung-bak.[1]

In 2013, Yoon led a special investigation team that looked into the National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s involvement in the 2012 NIS public opinion manipulation scandal. Yoon sought the prosecution of the former head of the NIS, Won Sei-hoon for violating the Public Official Election Act. He accused Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn of influencing his investigation.[8] As a result, he was demoted from the Seoul prosecutors' office to the Daegu and Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office.[9][8]

Yoon later became head of investigations in the team of special prosecutor Park Young-soo which investigated the allegations of the 2016 Choi Soon-sil scandal involving Choi, Samsung vice-chairman Lee Jae-yong and President Park Geun-hye which led to the impeachment of the president in December 2016.[9]

On 19 May 2017, the newly-elected President Moon Jae-in appointed Yoon as the Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.[5] The prosecution indicted two former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, three former NIS chiefs, former chief justice Yang Sung-tae and more than 100 other former officials and business executives under his tenure.[10] Yoon also led an investigation into accounting fraud at Samsung.[8]

Prosecutor General

On 17 June 2019, Yoon was nominated as the Prosecutor General, replacing Moon Moo-il.[4][2] His nomination was welcomed by the ruling Democratic Party and the Party for Democracy and Peace, but was also opposed by the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareunmirae Party.[11] A minor centre-left Justice Party remained neutral.[11] On 16 July, he was officially appointed as the new Prosecutor General[12] and started his term 9 days later.[13] President Moon ordered him to be neutral, adding that any kind of corruptions must be strictly investigated though it is related to the government.[13]

Yoon led investigations against the Minister of Justice Cho Kuk,[14] who was involved in various scandals. His decision was welcomed by the oppositions but was also condemned by the Democratic Party and its supporters.[14][15][16]

After Choo Mi-ae was appointed as the new Minister of Justice, she took an action against several prosecutors who are close to Yoon.[17][18] Choo blamed this decision on Yoon's failure to submit a reorganization plan for his department which she requested but this was seen as retaliation by the Blue House for Cho Kuk's prosecution.[19]

In April 2020, Democratic Party lawmakers again attacked Yoon and called on him to resign as the prosecution started investigations into election law violation cases involving both ruling and opposition politicians and also suspected election rigging of the Ulsan mayoral race for Mayor Song Cheol-ho in 2018 by senior secretaries at the Blue House.[20][21][22]

Suspension

On 24 November 2020, Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae suspended Yoon from his position, citing alleged ethical violations, abuse of power, and interference into investigations of his associates and family members.[23] Yoon filed an injunction against the minister's suspension order, which was approved by the Seoul Administrative Court on December 1, temporarily halting the suspension.[24][25] On December 16, the Ministry of Justice then imposed a two month suspension on Yoon, accepting four out of six major charges for disciplinary action and subsequently the decision was approved by President Moon.[26] However on December 24, following an injunction filed at the Seoul Administrative Court, the suspension was overturned as the court accepted Yoon's claim that the process to suspend him was unfair.[27]

Political positions

Yoon identifies himself as "conservative",[28] adding that he was inspired by economically liberal Milton Friedman.[29] A former conservative MP, Chung Doo-un, has also considered Yoon a conservative.[30]

Speculated potential run for presidency

He is considered a potential presidential candidate in the 2022 presidential election.[31][32]

Yoon led a January 2021 poll as the most favored presidential candidate on 30.4 percent, over the ruling Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung and Lee Nak-yeon.[33]

Personal life

Yoon has been married to Kim Kun-hui since 2012. Kim Kun-hui is the President of Covana Contents, which is a company that specializes in art exhibitions. She is 12 years younger than him.[34]

References
  1. "[원희복의 인물탐구]윤석렬 대전고검 검사… 소영웅주의자인가, 검찰의 자존심인가". 16 February 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  2. "윤석열 검찰총장 후보자는? "강직한 성품 원리원칙주의자"". 19 June 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  3. "윤석열이 전라도라고?". 28 October 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  4. "검찰총장 직행 윤석열은 누구?…대학때 전두환에 사형구형". 17 June 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  5. "[프로필] '강골 검사'의 컴백… 윤석열 서울중앙지검장". 19 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  6. "윤석열 '부동시' 군면제·아내 예금 50억, 청문회 쟁점 되나". 21 June 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  7. "[치안감 영장 '수사권 독립' 겹쳐 파문]". 20 May 1999. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  8. "South Korea's maverick prosecutor takes aim at heart of Samsung". Nikkei Asian Review. 2019-06-18. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  9. "Pulling out a Sword Against Deep-Rooted Irregularities: Surprise Nomination of Yoon Seok-yeol". The Kyunghyang Sinmun. 2019-06-18. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  10. "[Kim Myong-sik] Defender of justice or enforcer for power?". The Korea Herald. 2019-07-31. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  11. "한국당·바른미래 "채택 거부" vs 정의당 "유보" vs 평화당 "적격"". 9 July 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  12. "文대통령, 윤석열 검찰총장 임명… 청문보고서 없이 16번째". 16 July 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  13. "文, 윤석열 검찰총장 임명…"살아있는 권력에도 엄정하게"(종합)". 25 July 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  14. "윤석열 검찰은 왜 조국 수사에 사활 거는가". 6 September 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  15. "대규모 촛불집회에 … 윤석열 총장 "검찰 개혁, 국민 뜻 받들 것"". 29 September 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  16. "與일각 "윤석열 사퇴하라" vs 한국당 "문 대통령 홍위병 앞세워 사법 쿠데타"". 30 September 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  17. "칼 빼든 추미애, '윤석열 라인' 대거 전보 조치". 8 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  18. "Reshuffle dismantles prosecutor general's team, probes of Blue House". 9 January 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  19. "South Korea's Moon wants to punish 'almighty' prosecutor over unapproved probes into officials". Japan Times. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  20. "Ruling party takes aim at Prosecutor General Yoon". 19 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  21. "Ulsan mayor questioned in election-meddling probe". Yonhap. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  22. "[Kim Myong-sik] Blue House and 2018 Ulsan mayoral election conspiracy". The Korea Herald. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  23. "Justice minister orders suspension of top prosecutor from duty amid feud over reforms, investigations". 24 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  24. "Chief prosecutor seeks injunction against justice minister's order to suspend him". 26 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  25. Kang, Seung-woo (December 2, 2020). "Conflicts with minister further pushes top prosecutor's popularity as presidential hopeful". The Korea Times. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  26. Ock, Kee-won (December 16, 2020). "Justice Ministry suspends Yoon Seok-youl for 2 months, recognizes 4 out of 6 charges levied". Hankyoreh. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  27. "Editorial: Respect court's decision". Korea Times. December 25, 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  28. "[뒤끝작렬] 윤석열 '나는 보수다'…한국당에 던지는 메시지는?". 6 November 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  29. "자칭 보수 윤석열 "프리드먼 책 감명, 사회 점진적 변화 중시"". 8 July 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  30. "정두언 "윤석열 성향 보수로 보여···대통령도 대단한 용기"". 12 July 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  31. "윤석열, 차기 대통령감 반열에…PK서 홍준표와 공동 4위 [한국갤럽]". 17 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  32. "[대권주자 지지율] 윤석열, 1%로 대권주자 반열에 올랐다… 이낙연 24%, 황교안 9%, 안철수 4%". 17 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  33. "Chief prosecutor tops poll of presidential hopefuls". 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  34. "[여성조선] 전시장에서 만난 윤석열 검찰총장 후보 부인 김건희 대표... 60억대 자산가". 28 June 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
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