Draft:Yoon Suk Yeol

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Yoon Suk Yeol (윤석열) is a South Korean president who has been in power since May 10, 2022. He is often described as "K-Trump" by media.

Social issues[edit]

Anti-femminsm[edit]

He is a very anti-feminist. He has pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family since he was a presidential candidate. Although he failed to abolish the ministry due to international pressure, including the U.S., he is still hostile to feminism.[1]

Anti-transgender[edit]

The Yoon administration is attempting to reform the conscription system, while trans women (men by conservative South Korean law) who have not received hormone therapy for more than six months are conscripted despite not being conscripted. For reference, South Korea does not consider women to be conscripted, which is when the state attempts serious misgendering against transgender people.[2]

Diplomacy[edit]

"Anti-ethnonationalism"[edit]

"Opposition to ethnic nationalism" in South Korea does not have the same meaning as in the United States. It means opposing peace on the Korean Peninsula, pursuing an ultra-hawkish foreign policy toward North Korea, strengthening repressive militarism, anti-North state-based nationalism, abandoning the post-colonial agenda (in issues related to Japanese imperialism) to antagonize North Korea, and cooperating with the historical revisionist ultranationalist government-dominated Japanese government.

He often describes the opposition parties as "Pro-North Korea" (친북) or "Anti-Japanese ethnonationalist" (반일 민족주의).[3]

Anti-North Korean sentiemnt[edit]

With the exception of the Syngman Rhee (=first president), Yoon has the most hostile view toward North Korea among all presidents in South Korea. He rejects dialogue with North Korea itself and only prefers hawkish policy.[4]

He even unilaterally reversed a military agreement reached by the Moon Jae In government with North Korea in 2018, which calls for banning fighter jets from flying on the inter-Korea military demarcation line, after becoming president in 2023. Of course, the fact that North Korea is a terrible totalitarian dictatorship remains unchanged, but Yoon Suk Yeol has actually made a diplomatic provocation against North Korea.[5]

Pro-Japanese colonialism[edit]

While mainstream politicians and people in South Korea have strong anti-Japanese sentiment, Yoon Suk Yeol has often expressed diplomatically pro-Japanese views. He is ready to give up all post-colonial agendas for the friendly relationship between South Korea and Japan that the United States wants.[6] He even argues that victims of past Japanese war crimes in South Korea, including forced labor, should not demand compensation from Japanese companies and the Japanese government.[7]

Democratic backsliding[edit]

His government is pushing back Korea's democracy dramatically, similar to Japan's Shinzo Abe administration in the past. He is notorious for his oppression of liberal or [ethnic] nationalist media (sympathetic to North Korea and hostile to Japan) because he is an extreme anti-communist.

According to 'V-Dem', a prominent German democratic research institute, South Korea is experiencing "re-autocratification" under the Yoon administration, and liberal democracy is rapidly undermined.[8]

President Yoon's recent comments describing the opposition as "anti-state forces" (반국가세력), shows that this trend is far from over.[9]

References[edit]