Yoon Suk-yeol elected as new President of South Korea

In South Korea, opposition candidate Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative former top prosecutor has been elected as country's new President. Yoon Suk Yeol defeated his ruling liberal party opponent Lee Jae-myung in one of the country’s most closely fought presidential elections held yesterday.

With more than 99 percent of the ballots counted, People Power Party candidate Yoon won 48.6 percent of the votes, narrowly edging his rival Lee Jae-myung of Democratic Party, who garnered 47.8 percent.

In his victory speech at the party office, Yoon, said, he will respect their constitution and Parliament and work together with the



opposition party to serve the people properly.

Yoon will take office in May and serve a single five-year term as leader of the world’s 10th largest economy.

Earlier, Lee, a former governor of Gyeonggi province, conceded his defeat during a news conference at his party headquarters.

The election boiled down to a two-way showdown between Yoon from the opposition People Power Party and Lee from the governing Democratic Party.

The election comes as South Korea has been grappling with an omicron-driven COVID-19 surge.