Prosecutor Who Took Down President Now Running South Korea
- Conservative Yoon Suk Yeol takes office with low support
- Yoon signaled a tougher line against Pyongyang and Beijing
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South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor who made his name taking down a president, must now show he can govern as one.
Yoon took office Tuesday as South Korea’s eighth elected president since full democracy in 1987, facing daunting challenges from a Covid-ravaged economy to increasing weapons tests by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The conservative must overcome a hostile legislature, a lack of diplomatic experience and historically low popularity for an incoming elected leader in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.