Yoon Suk-yeol Wins Presidential Race in South Korea

AUG 3 2022·Updated DEC 21 2022

Story

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The Facts

The conservative opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol has been elected South Korean president in an extremely close race against the liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung.
The Korea Times
His main rival conceded defeat just before 4am Thursday, when he was leading by a margin of 263k votes.
nytimes
A former prosecutor and political novice, Yoon supports a stronger US-South Korea alliance, market-led approaches to promote economic growth and individual rights over women's rights specifically.
wapo
More than 77% of 44M eligible voters turned out to vote despite a sharp spike in COVID cases.
Reuters

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

The elections results could shake up the region. South Korea's next president will likely be rigid on North Korea and China while he improves the relationship with Japan and deepens security cooperation with the US.

CNN

Narrative B

This is unlikely to have any real effect foreign policy. South Korea was already moving away from China towards the US; Yoon will merely maintain the status quo, just as Lee would have, remaining committed to the US alliance, while continuing to cooperate warily with China.

The Hill