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A convicted former minister vowing revenge against conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol helped the South Korean leader suffer a landslide defeat in parliamentary elections.
Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, convicted on corruption charges after Yoon investigated him while he was chief prosecutor, has called for an end to Yoon’s “prosecutorial dictatorship.”
Cho’s newly-founded Korean Reconstruction Party is projected to win between 14 and 16 seats, according to results released early Thursday morning, helping the country’s left-wing alliance clear the 180-seat threshold that will allow it to fast-track legislation.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is forecast to win 176 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly, compared to 109 seats for Yoon’s ruling People’s Party (PPP), as voters voiced their anger at the rising cost of living. While the country’s government is appointed by the president, legislative initiatives require the support of parliament.
“People have clearly shown their hopes in the verdict to the Yoon administration,” Cho said after the release of exit polls on Wednesday night showing a victory for the left. “Yoon should humbly accept the outcome and apologize to the public for his misdeeds and corruption.”
Cho received a two-year prison sentence last year, which he has yet to serve as he appealed his sentence, on corruption charges related to forging documents to help his daughter get a place at a top medical school. If the higher court confirms the conviction, he faces disqualification from the National Assembly.
The prosecution, overseen by Yoon in his capacity as chief prosecutor under the previous leftist government, resulted in Cho losing his professorship, his daughter losing her medical license and his wife being sent to prison. It also made Yoon a hero among Korean conservatives, who anointed him as their candidate for Presidential elections in 2022 that he won further.
Now, however, Cho is back and calling on Yoon and PPP leader Han Dong-hoon — himself a former prosecutor involved in Cho’s indictment — to face prosecution for what he says are their abuses of prosecutorial powers .
Lee Sangsin, a research fellow and pollster at the Korea Institute for National Unification (China), noted Cho’s “compelling backstory” as a well-known student protester jailed in the 1980s under the country’s former authoritarian regime. Cho became a top professor at the most prestigious university in the country.
“Cho was like the original K-pop idol, with looks, intelligence and morals on his side,” Lee said. “Now he’s presenting himself as the country’s Luke Skywalker, with Yoon as Darth Vader — that’s a story many liberal Koreans find hard to resist.”
Lee said that while the Korean Reconstruction Party will remain a minor player in South Korea’s National Assembly, Cho’s criticism of Yoon will strike a chord with voters unhappy with the president’s governing style.
Since his election two years ago by a margin of less than one percent over DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, Yoon has fought a series of battles with opponents ranging from labor unions, doctors on strikedomestic media and former and current political opponents.
But his image as a bribe-fighter has been severely tarnished by the scandal surrounding his wife, First Lady Kim Keon Hee, over her acceptance of Christian Dior bag worth about 3 million Won ($2,200) from a Korean-American pastor.
Yoon refused to apologize or explain the episode, which was caught on a hidden camera and widely circulated on social media. Kim has not made a public appearance since mid-December. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
“Yoon doesn’t care about people’s livelihood,” said HA Han, a 53-year-old housewife from Anyang town who voted for DPK. “Inflation has gone up so much, but he is out of touch with what is happening. He is so dogmatic and doesn’t listen to what others say.”
“Koreans expect their presidents to compromise, but Yoon keeps choosing conflict instead,” said Kinu’s Lee. “He alienated moderate voters and they punished him at the ballot box.”
Meanwhile, Cho is already being talked about as a potential left-wing candidate in the 2027 presidential election. But to do so, he will have to defeat DPK leader Lee, who has recovered from a knife attack in January to lead his party to a resounding victory.
Kinu’s Lee noted a stark generational difference in attitudes toward Cho, with older left-leaning Koreans recalling his past as a student protester and younger Koreans—who had experienced fierce competition for a small number of places at elite universities—resenting his intervention to support your daughter’s medical care. school application.
The left-wing alliance did not cross the threshold of 200 seats that would have allowed them to bypass the presidential veto. But with South Korean presidents limited to one five-year term by the country’s constitution, Yoon “now faces more than three years as a lame duck, while the country faces more than three years of stagnation.”
Additional reporting by Song Jung
