Asia-Pacific

South Korea’s ‘Luke Skywalker’ strikes blow against president Yoon

Convicted former minister for justice helps deliver resounding electoral victory for left-wing alliance

Cho Kuk (centre), leader of the South Korean Rebuilding Korea Party holds a placard outside the supreme prosecutor's office in Seoul that translates as 'Prosecutors should bear in mind their public duty as guardians of the public interest'. Photograph: Anthony Wallace/Getty Images

Christian Davies in Seoul
Thu Apr 11 2024 - 15:36

A convicted former minister vowing revenge against conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol has helped deliver a resounding defeat to the South Korean leader in parliamentary elections.

Former minister for justice Cho Kuk, convicted on corruption charges after he was investigated by Mr Yoon during his time as prosecutor-general, campaigned on an end to Mr Yoon’s “prosecutorial dictatorship”.

Mr Cho’s newly formed Rebuilding Korea Party is projected to win between 14 and 16 seats, according to results released early on Thursday, helping the country’s left-wing alliance across a 180-seat threshold that will allow it to fast-track legislation.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is projected to win 176 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly, against 109 seats for Mr Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP), as voters voiced their anger at the rising cost of living. While the country’s cabinet is appointed by the president, legislative initiatives require parliamentary support.

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“The people have clearly shown their hopes for a verdict on the Yoon administration,” said Mr Cho after the release on Wednesday night of exit polls indicating a left-wing victory. “Yoon should humbly accept the outcome and apologise to the public for his wrongdoings and corruption.”

Mr Cho received a two-year prison sentence last year, which he is yet to serve as he is appealing against the ruling, on corruption charges relating to the forging of documents to help his daughter gain a place at a top medical school. If a higher court confirms the conviction, he faces disqualification from the National Assembly.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeo is well regarded by Korean conservatives. Photograph: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

The prosecution, which was overseen by Mr Yoon in his capacity as prosecutor-general during the previous left-wing government, led to Mr Cho losing his professorship, his daughter losing her medical licence and his wife being sent to prison. It also made Mr Yoon a hero among Korean conservatives, who anointed him as their candidate for the 2022 presidential election which he went on to win.

Now, however, Mr Cho is back and calling for Mr Yoon and PPP leader Han Dong-hoon — himself a former prosecutor who was involved in Mr Cho’s indictment — to face prosecution for what he alleges are their abuses of prosecutorial power.

Lee Sangsin, a research fellow and polling expert at the Korea Institute for National Unification (Kinu), noted Mr Cho’s “compelling backstory” as a famous student protester jailed in the 1980s under the country’s former authoritarian regime. Mr Cho went on to be a star professor at the country’s most prestigious university.

“Cho was like the original K-pop idol, with looks, intelligence and morality on his side,” said Mr Lee. “Now he is presenting himself as the country’s Luke Skywalker, with Yoon cast in the role of Darth Vader — it’s a narrative that many liberal Koreans find hard to resist.”

Mr Lee said that while the Rebuilding Korea Party will remain a minor player in the South Korean National Assembly, Mr Cho’s criticism of Mr Yoon had struck a chord with voters unhappy with the president’s strongman governing style.

Since his election two years ago by a margin of less than 1 per cent over DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, Mr Yoon has picked a succession of battles with adversaries ranging from labour unions, striking doctors, domestic media outlets and past and present political opponents.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party and his wife Kim Hye-kyung at a district office in Incheon, South Korea, on Thursday. Photograph: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

But his image as a graft-buster was badly undermined by a scandal surrounding his wife, first lady Kim Keon Hee, over her acceptance of a Christian Dior bag worth about Won3million (about €2,000) from a Korean-American pastor.

Mr Yoon has refused to apologise or explain the episode, which was caught on hidden camera and widely circulated on social media. Ms Kim has not made a public appearance since mid-December. They have both denied any wrongdoing.

“Yoon doesn’t care about people’s livelihoods,” said HA Han, a 53-year-old housewife from the city of Anyang, who voted for the DPK. “Inflation has gone up so much but he is out of touch with what’s going on. He is so dogmatic and doesn’t listen to what others say.”

“Koreans expect their presidents to compromise, but Yoon has consistently chosen confrontation instead,” said Kinu’s Mr Lee. “He has alienated moderate voters and they have punished him at the ballot box.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cho is already being spoken of as a potential left-wing candidate in the 2027 presidential election. But to do so he will have to defeat DPK leader Lee, who recovered from a knife attack in January to lead his party to a resounding victory.

Mr Lee also noted a sharp generational disparity in attitudes towards Mr Cho, with older left-wing Koreans recalling his past as a student protester and younger Koreans — who experienced fierce competition for a small number of places at elite universities — resenting his intervention to support his daughter’s medical school application.

The left-wing alliance fell short of a 200-seat threshold that would have allowed them to circumvent a presidential veto. But with South Korean presidents limited by the country’s constitution to one five-year term, Mr Yoon “now faces more than three years as a lame duck, while the country faces more than three years of stalemate”. — Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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