Park Yohan

Prime Minister Park Yohan
Prime Minister of Joseon
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 December 2023 (2023-12-02)
Preceded by	Prime Minister Jeong Dohyung
Chief Justice of the Supreme
In office 16 August 2022 (2022-08-16) – 27 November 2023 (2023-11-27)
Preceded by	Chief Justice of the Supreme Kim Ji-Seung
Succeeded by	Chief Justice of the Supreme Do Se-sang
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
In office 25 June 2014 (2014-06-25) – 16 August 2022 (2022-08-16)
Judge of the Daejeon District Court
In office 15 February 2007 (2007-02-15) – 25 June 2014 (2014-06-25)
Personal details
Born	Park Yohan (1981-02-15) 15 February 1981 Mapo-gu, Seoul, Joseon
Political party	Democratic Political Party (2023-present)
Spouse(s)	Lee So Young (m. 2008)
Children	Park Kijoon (2010) Park Jiyeon (2013)
Education	Hanyang University
Military service
Years of service	2005 - 2006
Rank	Sergeant

Park Yohan(박요한) is the 18th Prime Minister and incumbent Prime Minister of Joseon. He was elected on December 2, 2023, through the National Assembly's official vote to elect a prime minister, and he does not concurrently serve as the head of the ruling party under Joseon's laws.

Park Yohan had been in the legal profession ever since he began his career as a judge on the Daejeon District Court in 2007. He began to gain popularity with the public as he issued decisive rulings on grave criminal cases that received media and public attention throughout the Daejeon District Court and the Supreme Court.

Park Yohan served as chief justice of the Supreme Court until mid-November 2023. He was instrumental in addressing the aftermath of the November incident, and after being offered to join the Democratic Political Party, he resigned as chief justice in late November and joined the Democratic Political Party.

Early life

Park Yohan was born as the second son of the owner of Jaesung Electric, one of Joseon's largest companies. Although he grew up in a wealthy background, his personality was known to be relatively passive during his school years. However, Park Yohan stood out in academic performance, especially in the political and social subjects.

Park Dohyun, the owner of Jaesung Electric, repeatedly expressed his intention to hand over the company to Park Yohan in public, but Park Yohan chose to enter the legal profession instead of inheriting the company. He passed the legal professional qualification exam after graduating from Hanyang University's law school and began his career as a judge on the Daejeon District Court.

Career

From his time as a judge of the Daejeon District Court, Park Yohan was famous for issuing "judgment following the demands and appeals of the public" on serious criminal cases. He sometimes concluded that the accused was innocent, but he often sentenced stronger sentences than existing precedents, especially for serious criminal cases that drew public attention.

Park Yohan served as a Supreme Court justice from 2014 to 2022. One of the most famous cases of his career during this period was the "murder of an office worker in Gangneung," where the accused was sentenced to relatively low sentences in the first and second trials for being forgiven by the victims' bereaved families and reflecting on his guilt. However, Park Yohan sentenced the accused to death in consideration of the seriousness of the crime, the death of the victim, and the impact on society if the accused is sentenced to a low sentence. Immediately after the death sentence, the accused showed an attitude contrary to his previous attitude, such as criticizing the victim, which caused a lot of controversy in society.

Park Yohan was popular with the public as he was praised for making rulings in the public interest of society without being swayed by compassion and other emotions. However, some legal experts and judges criticized him for acting as a "populist in the legal world".

Park Yohan was appointed Chief Justice in 2022. As Chief Justice, he established many institutional arrangements to reinforce the fairness and integrity of investigations, prevent the so-called "abuse of reduced sentences" of accused persons with proven charges, and expand the legal support system for victims of crime. In particular, the expansion of support for victims of crime was well received by both the public and experts.

In 2023, when the November incident occurred, Park Yohan, along with Empress Lee Dam, was promised by Archinia information on the coup and punishment for those involved inside Archinia, as interim representative of the Joseon government on behalf of Prime Minister Jeong Doyeong, who was unable to perform his duties. This was also his first political and diplomatic work and achievement.

In mid-November, 2023, Prime Minister Jeong Dohyung resigned due to the leadership hit caused by the attempted coup. The ruling Democratic Political Party selected Park Yohan, who was significantly popular, as Jeong Dohyung's successor, and offered to Park Yohan join the Democratic Political Party. Park Yohan accepted the offer, and on Nov. 24, 2023, he joined the Democratic Political Party upon his resignation as Chief Justice. Park Yohan was elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly on December 2, 2023, and began his term in office.

Political View

Park Yohan's political career is not long, and the Democratic Political Party is credited with recruiting Park Yohan only for his popularity. Therefore, Park Yohan's policies and political leanings not only include the Democratic Political Party's previous positions, but also some of the major pledges of other parties. This is believed to be because Park Yohan was largely uninfluenced by the internal politics of the Democratic Political Party.

The foreign policy of the Park Yohan administration has somewhat inherited that of the previous Jeong Dohyeong administration, but it takes a more principled stance. Park Yohan's administration seeks to solve various international problems in cooperation with the international community and its allies, and its basic principles are to respond firmly to security threats facing its allies. Park Yohan's administration also takes measures such as reducing exchanges or lowering the importance of diplomacy with authoritarian countries, including Nifon, where human rights and democracy are not protected, in contrast to the Jeong Dohyung administration, which maintained a certain level of interaction with some authoritarian countries under the principle of realism.

The Park Yohan administration's only realist foreign policy is to reconsider alliances in which relations are either one-sided or unwilling to address the problems they face. Based on these policies, the Park Yohan administration attempted to avoid an excessive deterioration of relations with Aureumterra.

While Park Yohan's administration allows free competition and trade within the market and the private economy, it strictly governs important public goods that are directly related to people's living conditions, such as electricity, water supply, and health insurance. Through these policies, Park Yohan's administration keeps market logic from accessing public goods that are essential for people's lives and survival. In this respect, Park Yohan's administration is inheriting the policies of previous administrations.

Park Yohan's administration officially values institutional democracy and seeks to ensure maximum freedom of speech. As a case in point, Park Yohan's administration delegated the authority to appoint the board members and chairmen of the Joseon Communications Commission to the National Assembly and an elected citizens' commission.

Personal Life

Park Yohan is the prime minister with the most wealth among all the prime ministers of Joseon. It is known that this is because, in the process of Jaesung Electric being inherited by Park Yohan's older brother, Park Yohan inherited a significant portion of the private assets of the owner's family of Jaesung Electric.

Park Yohan is married and has two children. It is known that they are currently attending middle schools and elementary schools in Seoul, respectively.