Three-nothing, political naive Yoon Suk-yeol becoming President of South Korea is an election miracle

By Helen Lee  SEOUL: Finally, Yoon Suk-yeol succeeds in taking the reign of the Republic of Korea. A lot of people are yet to realize the epochal significance of his change in power. Surely, Yoon came into power because he was at the peak of time and space that coincided with the desire among the public for regime change.

However, the political transition to Yoon’s administration has very distinct characteristics compared to the previous government changes.

According to a popular belief, Yoon Suk-yeol did not have the three essential footholds to win office i.e. regional foundation, power base, and political background. Without any of these three components, it was believed to be impossible to come to power in Korean politics, until Yoon Suk-yeol won in the recent presidential elections in an nail biting finish with historically low margin. So it can be called ‘a miracle’ in South Korea’s electoral history.

Yoon Suk-yeol has become the only president who’s not from the Yeongnam region, except for Kim Dae-jung.  Ever since Park Jung-hee in the 1960s, the presidency of South Korea has been taken over by Yeongnam people. Kim Dae-jung, who was a competent politician, also had to embrace Kim Jong-pil from Chungcheong Province in order to seize power. People lashed out at him for ‘being in collusion with the Remnants of Yushin regime’.

Nonetheless, Kim Dae-jung’s reign would not have been possible without the so-called DJP Solidarity. In contrast to this, Yoon Suk-yeol managed to be elected without solidarity with other regions. He didn’t even make any promises to relocate the Chungcheong region capital, unlike Roh Mu-hyeon. This shows that he did not exploit regionalism to gain votes.

Yoon Suk-yeol is the only president who graduated from Seoul National University, except for Kim Young-sam. However, he doesn’t seem to be puffed with his prestigious education background. The fact that he is a SNU graduate yet doesn’t have much of a personal connection from SNU is also what makes him different. Chief Justice Lee Hoi-chang tried to use the so-called “KS mark” which means Kyeong-gi High School-SNU connection. Despite all the efforts to run for president three times, he could never realize his dream.

Yoon Suk-yeol has no political background. It is said that he has no political affiliation that is often referred to as ‘political 9th dan’ or ‘political 10th dan’.  For all that, he won the first opposition party’s candidacy within 4 months of…

As such, Yoon Suk-yeol is the president of ‘three nothings’ without three things.  What does this mean?  Doesn’t that mean that Seok-ryeol Yoon can become the ‘President of the New Era’?  There are people who question the fact that Yoon is a prosecutor.  They have a naive stereotype, armed with black and white logic and binary thinking, that prosecutors are bad people and lawyers are good people.

Of course, they think this way because they are simple and aggressive.  The simplicity and arrogance of a “prosecutor’s republic” that a candidate who used to be a prosecutor became president!  So, if Lee Jae-myung was elected as president, does that mean that the Republic of Korea would be a ‘republic of black examinations’?

We have already witnessed the tragic end of two lawyer-turned-politicians, and we have a foreboding of the tumultuous end of another lawyer-turned-politician.  In this presidential election, no presidential candidate except Yoon Suk-yeol was a figure of the new era.  President Yoon can become a leader in a new era who can lead the Republic of Korea in its entirety.  In this respect, his election can be said to be an ‘election miracle’.

Finally, a hopeful and proud Republic of Korea can illuminate the world through this 20th President Yoon Suk-yeol, chosen and created by the people. We look forward to seeing him as a torchbearer to lead the country to a bright future.