Yoon Suk-yeol conservative deregulation government (South Korea)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Conservative People Power Party government organised around deregulation, chaebol-favourable tax policy, nuclear restoration, a sharp tilt toward the US-Japan-Korea trilateral, and a combative posture toward the Democratic Party-controlled National Assembly that ultimately produced the December 2024 martial-law declaration. Core content: (i) statutory corporate-tax cut from 25% to 24% effective January 2023 (top bracket; paired with bracket restructuring and headline-rate reductions across lower tiers); (ii) inheritance-and-gift-tax reform attempt 2024 proposing a cut of the top inheritance rate from 50% to 40% and shift from decedent-based to inheritor-based taxation (blocked by the DP-majority assembly); (iii) nuclear restoration — reversal of Moon phase-out, resumption of Shin Hanul 3/4 construction, extension of existing plant lifespans, target raising nuclear share of generation to ~35% by 2036; (iv) real-estate deregulation including loan-to-value cap easing, reconstruction-permit liberalisation, rollback of multi-home acquisition-tax surcharges, Jongbuse (comprehensive real-estate tax) cuts; (v) Yoon-Biden summit (May 2022, Washington Declaration on extended deterrence April 2023), Camp David trilateral with Japan and US August 2023 — strongest US alignment in a generation; (vi) minimum-wage moderation (2.5% 2023, 2.5% 2024, 1.7% 2025 — the lowest consecutive hikes since the early 2000s); (vii) weekly-working- hour reform attempt 2023 proposing up to 69-hour weeks (withdrawn after youth backlash); (viii) medical school admission quota expansion of 2,000 seats provoking the 2024 resident-doctors strike; (ix) December 3 2024 emergency martial-law declaration citing "anti-state forces" within the DP-controlled assembly, overturned by unanimous National Assembly vote within three hours, followed by impeachment motion 14 December 2024 (204-85) and Constitutional Court unanimous removal 4 April 2025. Early election held 3 June 2025 won by DP's Lee Jae-myung. Proponents framed the agenda as unwinding Moon-era rigidities and restoring chaebol-led growth; critics framed it as regressive tax cuts, confrontation-politics escalation, and the gravest democratic-backsliding episode since 1987.