South Korea's new president-elect is a political novice who shot to public attention as a prosecutor for his uncompromising investigations into some of the country's most high-profile corruption scandals

But conservative Yoon Suk-yeol's hawkish stance on North Korea has drawn some controversy, while his misogynistic pledges and his insensitive remarks on issues ranging from poverty and the Ukraine crisis have been widely criticised
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Born in Seoul in 1960, Yoon studied law and went on to play a key role in convicting the former president Park Geun-hye for abuse of power

As the country's top prosecutor in 2019, he also indicted a top aide of outgoing President Moon Jae-in over fraud and bribery, in a case that tarnished the Moon administration's upstanding image
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Despite his role in Park's ousting, Yoon fired up support among disgruntled conservative voters by offering a chance at "revenge" against Moon -- even going so far as to threaten to investigate Moon for unspecified "irregularities"

Even Yoon's wife [Kim Kun-hee] claimed his critics would be prosecuted if her husband won because that's "the nature of power", according to taped comments released after a court battle
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As an avowed anti-feminist he has pledged to abolish the ministry for gender equality, claiming South Korean women do not suffer systemic discrimination -- despite voluminous evidence to the contrary

On North Korea, Yoon has threatened a pre-emptive strike on the South's nuclear-armed neighbour if needed, a claim that analysts have pointed out is wildly unrealistic
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So far, Yoon's camp "looked as though they were simply copying and pasting foreign policy phrases from the US Republican presidents' speeches," she added

He also made a string of gaffes on the campaign trail, from praising one of the country's former dictators, to belittling manual labour and Africans