South Korea — SEOUL Following months of political unrest, South Korea will choose a new president this week to follow conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed for his brief but startling implementation of martial law.
Riding on a wave of public disappointment of Yoon’s martial law catastrophe in December, surveys suggested leftist Lee Jae-myung is greatly likely to win Tuesday’s snap election. Kim Moon Soo, the leading conservative contender, wants a come-from-behind triumph, but experts note that his inability to aggressively criticize Yoon made it challenging for him to close the distance with Lee.
Without the usual two-month transition time, the winner will be sworn in as president on Wednesday. Along with emphasizing U.S. President Donald Trump’s America-first policies and North Korea’s developing nuclear program, the next leader must also handle the pressing chores of trying to mend the huge domestic rift over Yoon’s action.
The frontrunner to win the elections is Lee, a representative of the leading liberal Democratic Party. Lee was chosen by 46% to 49% of respondents in three Gallup Korea polls published last week, therefore providing a significant lead over Kim with 35% to 37%.
Before the Constitutional Court officially removed Yoon in April, Lee barely lost the 2022 election to him and led parliament’s two votes to reverse his martial law proclamation and impeach him.
Lee’s candid criticism of South Korea’s conservative government and demands for punishment for individuals engaged in the implementation of Yoon’s martial law have raised concerns among his rivals about Lee’s election likely polarizing the nation.
Former Yoon’s labor minister Kim has battled uphill against Lee as his People Power Party works to rebuild public trust. Kim pushed away from moderate voters, observers believe, in opposition to Yoon’s impeachment and in unwillingness to specifically condemn the disgraced president.
Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Party is among four other politicians vying for the presidency; she has flatly denied Kim’s demand to field a joint candidate between them to prevent a division in conservative votes.
The election has become ugly as candidates level damaging remarks, personal attacks, even sexually offensive language against one another without revealing any clear, long-term vision for South Korea.
Lee Jae-myung called Kim a “harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship,” while Kim labeled Lee as “Yoon Suk Yeol’s avatar,” during last week’s broadcast debate. After Lee Jun-seok used graphic references to women’s bodies to attack Lee Jae-myung’s son over his allegedly sexually explicit online slur targeting a female singer, Lee Jun-seok came under withering public criticism.
The most urgent domestic concern confronting the incoming president will be a sharply split country where millions have gathered for months to either support or criticize Yoon.
Yoon had called Lee’s party “anti-state” forces using their legislative majority to thwart his plans. He also supported unfounded conspiracy theories that the liberals had profited from election fraud, inspiring his followers to gather in the streets bearing “Stop the Steal” banners.
Lee has sent a message of unity and promised not, should he be elected, to pursue political retribution against his rivals. However, his detractors question whether Lee would use inquiries of Yoon’s martial law decree as a means of stifling his rival.
Yoon’s legal saga is likely to overshadow the early months of Seoul’s next government, as the former president continues to stand trial on high-stakes rebellion charges, which carry a possible sentence of death or life in prison.
