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| Former Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl's strong showing in public opinion surveys have spurred a publication boom around him. A total of eight books about him have been published this year alone. |
Books about the former prosecutor-general give fragmented information about the possible presidential contender
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Former Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl, 61, has yet to declare a bid to run in the 2022 presidential election slated for March 9. Despite rampant rumors about his candidacy, he has played a waiting game about his presidential run.
His every action, word and whereabouts spark speculation about his motives, maybe because he is currently one of the most popular ― albeit unofficial ― presidential contenders.
A Gallup poll conducted on 1,000 people in May found Yoon and Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung in a tight two-way race. When asked who they think should become Korea's next president, 25 percent said Lee, while 22 percent opted for Yoon. The poll had a plus or minus 3.1 percentage points margin of error.
Some other surveys showed that Yoon was ahead of Lee.
The former prosecutor's strong showing in public opinion surveys seems to have spurred a publication boom around him.
According to the Kyobo Books website, eight books about him have been, or will be, released this year alone. Since April, seven of them have been on sale in local bookstores, while the remaining one will be released Thursday.
Books about Yoon outnumber those on other presidential candidates. A book about Gyeonggi Governor Lee was published earlier this year, while former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon released a co-authored memoir, "Lee Nak-yeon's Promise: A Country That Protects My Life" published by Book 21.
Interestingly, none of the books about Yoon were authored by him nor were they based on interviews. All eight books are reconstructed stories based on media reports or recollections from acquaintances.
One, titled "Republic of Korea Calls Upon Yoon Seok-youl: The Yoon Syndrome in Korean Politics," tells the story of the former top prosecutor based on an interview with his father, Yoon Ki-joong, a professor emeritus of Yonsei University's Department of Statistics.
Author Kim Chang-young, a retired journalist, sat down with the senior Yoon to discuss his son as presidential material.
"We'll see what will happen. My son will be the last person to do anything unrighteous," the older Yoon was quoted as saying, sharing an anecdote about a mock trial his son attended when he was a student of Seoul National University School of Law.
According to his father, the younger Yoon was courageous enough to volunteer to play a prosecutor in a mock trial for then-President Chun Doo-hwan who rose to power through a military coup. He called for the death penalty for the sitting president for abuse of power and unlawfully organizing military action for personal gain.
Back in the 1980s during the military dictatorship, the older Yoon said, students were scared to take such a risky role, although it was a mock trial, for fear of retribution, but his son dared to do so.
After the mock trial, the younger Yoon hid out for days in a small temple in the eastern Gangwon Province to avoid any possible fallout.
"Later, I met President Chun upon his request. His children attended Yonsei University and that's why he asked to meet me. I told him about what my son did in the mock trial. He didn't take it seriously and said that's what young people do. If people of that age were not courageous enough to do what my son did, he said they won't become big fish," the older Yoon was quoted as saying in the book.
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| Yoon Seok-youl, center, is surrounded with reporters in the newly-opened urban park Yejang on June 9. Yonhap |
Another book, "Yoon Seok-youl, A Down to Earth Man," is written based on the testimony from Yoon's unnamed alumnus.
Author Kim Yeon-woo, a former writer for KBS, SBS and MBC, depicts the former prosecutor-general as a genuine man who has the heart to listen to those in their 20s and 30s, noting he learned lessons from his nine failures to pass the state bar exam before he finally made it.
"Three days before the second round of the state bar exam, he travelled all the way to a remote city for his friend's wedding ceremony. He's a man like that. The incident shows that when he was young he was genuine enough to prioritize friendship over his personal success," the book claims.
Books written based on secondary information or testimony from acquaintances of the possible presidential contender may remind readers of the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Like a group of blind men who try to conceptualize what the animal really is, books about Yoon could be misleading or provide only partial information about him.
Part of the reason why all eight books were published in the form of reconstructed stories about the former prosecutor-general based on what was already reported in the media or what others said about him is maybe because he is still a man very much behind a veil.
Unlike other politicians, details about Yoon are relatively unknown to the public.
