Yoon Suk-yeol has been announced as the next president of South Korea. 

The former legal prosecutor defeated his much more liberal rival Lee Jae-myung by just 0.73 percentage points when the final voting count finished on Thursday morning. This election is considered to be “one of the ugliest in South Korea’s 35 year democracy”

The newly elected president of South Korea attracted a quick fanbase amongst older citizens and younger men who are openly against feminism. 

South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has demonstrated he's anti-feminism. He's said structural gender discrimination doesn't exist. He's accused foreigners of being health insurance leeches. He's belittled poor people, Africa. He's shown signs of homophobia and transphobia.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 9, 2022

The 61-year-old has vowed to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family which was formed in 2001 to establish gender-related policies and provide support for victims of domestic and sexual abuse. 

Yoon believes that the highly progressive establishment treats men like “potential criminals” and therefore it must be removed.

A voter named Yu Jun-beom spoke with VICE World News outside a polling station in Seoul about his similar outlook to the new president “The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family should be abolished as soon as possible since it’s the most useless agency in our government so far. The money that goes into it should be invested in something more valuable”

Yoon has also declared that he will introduce tougher penalties for people who make false claims of sexual assault. He has also blamed the country’s low birth rate on feminism saying that it prevents the formation of healthy relationships between men and women.

As the election approached, there were fears that if Yoon won, the gender divide could increase even more, and the women’s rights movement could be set back with a less progressive leader in charge.

According to Kim Jiyoon, who is a research fellow at Sogang University’s Institute of Social Sciences “The gender gap is the widest among the young generation. If you go up to the older generation, it’s actually converging, but it’s the widest and the most divergent between young females and young males.”

The brought along an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ behaviour and less progressive attitudes which will only be continued with Yoon’s leadership.

Yoon Suk-yeol will serve a five-year term starting in May 2022.