Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung is projected to win a sweeping victory in South Korea’s snap presidential election, with exit polls suggesting he will take more than 50 per cent of the vote. The election, which saw the highest turnout since 1997, could herald a foreign policy shift for one of the United States’ closest allies in the Asia-Pacific region.
An exit poll conducted by South Korea’s three biggest broadcasters showed Lee winning 51.7 per cent of the vote, more than 12 points ahead of his conservative rival. The election marks a dramatic turnaround for the 64-year-old lawyer, who lost the presidential election in 2022 by less than 1 per cent of the vote, the narrowest margin in the country’s history.
The election was triggered by the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, the conservative president who declared martial law last December before revoking the order six hours later. Kim Moon-soo, the conservative People Power Party candidate, struggled to escape his party’s association with Yoon, which alienated some centrist voters.
Another conservative candidate, Lee Jun-seok from the New Reform Party, conceded defeat on Tuesday night after the exit poll predicted he would receive just 7.7 per cent of the vote. He had been under pressure to withdraw in favour of Kim in order to unite the conservative vote but he said he did not regret his decision to stay in the race.
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“Unification was never something we seriously considered,” he said.
“Judging by the results, the burden now facing the conservative bloc is to prioritise innovation over mere alliances.”
Lee Jae-myung framed the election as an opportunity to restore South Korea’s democratic norms and strengthen its institutions after what he described as Yoon’s attempted coup. But his critics have accused Lee himself of displaying dictatorial tendencies after he proposed a reform of the judiciary that could more than triple the number of supreme court justices.
Lee has promised a reset of South Korea’s relations with China and Russia that could see a more friendly approach than that adopted by Yoon. And he wants to restore lines of communication with North Korea, although he has acknowledged that progress may be limited after Pyongyang abandoned its aspiration to unite the peninsula and declared South Korea its primary enemy.
US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on South Korean imports, and one of Lee’s first challenges will be to negotiate a better deal with Washington. He will also seek to persuade Trump not to reduce the US military presence in South Korea as Seoul faces demands from the White House to contribute more to its own defence.
[ Lee Jae-myung: The man set to take over South Korea’s turbulent democracyOpens in new window ]
Born into poverty in a remote mountain village in the east of the country, Lee skipped secondary school to work in a factory, where an industrial accident caused a permanent injury to his arm at the age of 13. He went back to school later, winning a scholarship to university to study law and going on to work as a human rights lawyer.
A former mayor of Seongnam, a city of one million people, and governor of Gyeonggi province, Lee has faced investigations for corruption, bribery and conflicts of interest. Last November, he was convicted of making false statements during the 2022 presidential election campaign but the conviction was overturned by the Seoul high court in March.
Lee survived an assassination attempt last year when he was stabbed during a visit to a construction site; he wore a bulletproof vest while campaigning during this year’s election. He will take office immediately after the election result is confirmed and will serve with a cabinet appointed by Yoon until he makes his own nominations.
