PPP's Yoon became a conservative by fighting a liberal president

Yoon Suk-yeol raises a fist before the Feb. 25 presidential debate. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Yoon, who served as prosecutor general in President Moon Jae-in’s administration, is an unlikely person to help conservatives wrest the Blue House from the ruling Democratic Party.

Throughout his 27-year-long career as a prosecutor, the main opposition People Power Party’s (PPP) presidential candidate has gone after many and spared few in his probes of official misconduct, with little regard for his targets’ partisan allegiances or their backing from higher authorities.

What made Yoon so unlikely a conservative contender for the presidency is the fact he made his name by investigating the National Intelligence Service for attempting to manipulate public opinion in favor of then-conservative presidential candidate Park Geun-hye in the 2012 election. He later investigated Park herself after allegations of influence-peddling by her confidante Choi Soon-sil came to light -- which led to her impeachment, removal from office and a time in the deep political wilderness for the conservatives.

Hailed as a martyr by progressives for having suffered the bureaucratic equivalent of exile by being reassigned to the Daejeon and Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office during Park’s administration, Yoon was rehabilitated as chief of the prestigious Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office once Moon came to power in May 2017.

Yoon’s star was further burnished when he was appointed Prosecutor General, overseeing the entire state prosecution service, in June 2019.

Then, almost as soon as he had reached the top, Yoon fell out with the Moon administration and the ruling party.

Yoon’s problems began with his decision to initiate a probe into Cho Kuk, Moon’s pick for the post of justice minister, and allegations that the nominee and his wife had used their influence to secure fabricated academic credentials for their daughter, which she used to successfully apply to Korea University and Pusan University’s graduate medical school.

The ensuing scandal forced Cho to resign as justice minister 35 days after his appointment. Yoon faced intense heat from DP members and their supporters for going after a darling of the administration and progressive movement.

Over the course of the following year, Yoon faced an increasingly bitter power struggle with Cho’s successor, Choo Mi-ae, who made clear she would rein in what the ruling party characterized as a politicized and overreaching state prosecution service.

Not only did Choo abruptly reassign prosecutors who had been investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations against key members of the Moon administration and effectively demote Yoon’s closest aides shortly after her appointment in January 2020, she attempted to suspend Yoon from his position twice in November and December 2020, leading Yoon to fight and overturn both administrative orders through court injunctions.

Tensions between the state prosecution service and administration further escalated as Moon and the DP pushed a series of aggressive measures to weaken the prosecution's powers.

As a part of the campaign, the administration established the Corruption Investigation Office, which has jurisdiction over 6,500 high-ranking public officials including the president, cabinet members and lawmakers as well as prosecutors. The prosecution's investigative powers over misdemeanors were given to the police.

As Yoon’s relationship with the Moon administration and ruling party soured, he became a star among the conservatives who once reviled him. He was nothing less than a martyr to prosecutors who saw him as defending the service’s powers to investigate high and low officials alike.

Yoon finally broke with the president who appointed him last March, when the ruling party announced a plan to launch a so-called Serious Crimes Investigative Agency under the Ministry of Justice, which would strip the state prosecution service's authority to investigate corruption, among five other crimes, and give that power to the new agency.

Having cemented his reputation as a warrior against Moon's administration, media speculation concerning Yoon’s potential presidential candidacy focused not on if, but when he would join the main opposition party, which he did last August.

Yet Yoon’s entrance into the political arena has not been without its troubles.

Public scrutiny has particularly focused on the criminal prosecution of his mother-in-law on suspicion of taking state health insurance benefits after illegally opening a nursing hospital, and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, for fabricating career credentials on her resumes for university teaching posts.

The candidate himself has faced ridicule for committing public gaffes, such as sporting a pen-drawn Chinese character for “king” on his palm during a televised debate.

Leaked recordings of his wife’s phone call with a left-leaning lawyer, where she talked about consulting gurus for spiritual advice, raised unpleasant reminders of former President Park’s high dependence on Choi.

Kim, for her part, has apologized for the exaggerated resumes and promised she will not play a role in any administration led by her husband.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]