Yoon Suk-yeol, President of South Korea, declared a
period of national mourning following the Seoul tragedy on Saturday. On Sunday,
the President, in a televised address said, “This is truly tragic. A tragedy
and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul
last night.” Yoon has ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the
incident.

“The most important thing is to determine the cause of
the accident and prevent similar accidents. We will thoroughly investigate the
cause of the accident and make fundamental improvements so that similar
accidents to not happen again in the future,” the South Korean President said.

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“As president, who is responsible for the people’s
lives and safety, my heart is heavy and I struggle to cope with grief. The
government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought
under control as a period of national mourning and will place top priority in
administrative affairs in recovery and follow-up measures,” Yoon added.

Who is Yoon Suk-yeol?

Yoon Suk-yeol was born in 1960 in Bomun-dong, Seongbuk
District in Seoul, South Korea. His father, Yoon Ki-jung, was professor
emeritus of Economics at Yonsei University. Yoon’s mother, Choi Jeong-ja lectured
at Ewha Womans University before leaving the position upon getting married.

Yoon attended Daegwang Elementary School and Joongrang
Middle School and subsequently Choongam High School.

He later studied law at Seoul National University.

Yoon was exempted from national service in 1982
because he suffered anisometropia, a condition when two eyes have unequal
refractive power. This is also why Yoon was never able to obtain a driver’s
license.

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Yoon passed the first part of his bar exam in the
fourth year of university but failed the second. He continued to fail for nine
subsequent years until 1991.

In 1994, Yoon Suk-yeol joined a public prosecutor’s
office. In 2019, he was nominated Prosecutor General.

Yoon won the 2022 Presidential elections as an
independent candidate and later joined the People Power Party.