South Korea elects Lee Jae-myung president

June 4, 2025

SEOUL – Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea has clinched the presidency, turning the page on six months of relentless political upheaval and a leadership vacuum left by ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s troubled legacy.

The liberal Democratic Party will take power from the conservative People Power Party after a whirlwind 22-day campaign, just three years after the 2022 presidential election. That year, Yoon defeated Lee by the narrowest margin on record—just 0.73 percentage point.

With all ballots counted, Lee ultimately received 49.42 percent in Tuesday’s early presidential election, while Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party garnered 41.15 percent, according to the National Election Commission on Wednesday.

Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Party secured 8.34 percent, falling short of the 10 percent threshold required to qualify for reimbursement of half his campaign expenses.

Lee Jae-myung collected a total of 17,287,513 votes, surpassing the previous record for the most votes received in a presidential election, set by Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022, who received 16,394,815 votes.

Lee had effectively secured victory with 48.77 percent of the vote, while Kim trailed with 42.11 percent, as of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday with 93.84 percent of ballots counted. At that time, about 2.18 million votes remained uncounted.

“I express my respect for the people’s great decision,” Lee Jae-myung said as he left his residence for the party headquarters in Yeouido, after his win was deemed certain by the nation’s major broadcasters just before midnight.

“I will do my utmost to fulfill the immense responsibility and mission entrusted to me, so as not to fall short of our citizens’ expectations.”

Kim delivered his concession speech at around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at the National Assembly, saying, “I humbly accept the people’s decision. I congratulate candidate Lee Jae-myung on his election.”

Lee’s presidency will have come on his third attempt, after he finished third in his first bid for the Democratic Party’s 2017 nomination and then narrowly losing to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election.

However, Lee did not secure an outright majority—a distinction solely held by former President Park Geun-hye, who captured 51.55 percent in the 2012 presidential election, the only candidate to do so since the 1987 constitutional amendment introducing direct presidential elections.

Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the National Assembly after the exit poll results were released, “If Lee secures more than half the votes, it means he has the support of over half the nation. I believe that, by overcoming discord and fostering unity, (winning a majority) will greatly help us move forward on the path to overcoming this crisis.”

Besides being only the second early presidential election triggered by the impeachment of a sitting president, the election carried significant weight, unfolding as South Korea’s democracy faced extraordinary strain.

The nation was jolted by Yoon’s botched declaration of emergency martial law on Dec. 3— the first such attempt since the 1987 democratization movement — and his subsequent impeachment by the National Assembly on Dec. 14. He was unanimously removed from office by the Constitutional Court on April 4 for overstepping his constitutional authority, paving the way for the June 3 by-election.

The orderly transfer of power in this early election marks more than the restoration of stability and constitutional order after the nation’s gravest crisis in decades. It stands as a testament to the resilience and maturity of South Korea’s democracy, forged in the fires of political turbulence at breakneck speed.

Yet Lee’s victory also comes with towering responsibilities as the nation reels from cascading headwinds on multiple fronts, both at home and abroad.

Domestically, deepening political polarization and the exhaustion of traditional engines of economic growth, exacerbated by structural challenges such as demographic decline and a rapidly aging society, as well as the looming prospect of a zero-growth economy, have taken a heavy toll.

Beyond its borders, South Korea faces the specter of global economic uncertainty unleashed by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, along with mounting security challenges — from the persistent threat posed by North Korea to the potential of repositioning US Forces Korea elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.

Lee was sworn into office at around 6:21 a.m. Wednesday, as soon as his victory was officially confirmed by the National Election Commission—a departure from the customary 60-day transition period afforded to South Korean presidents.

All constitutional powers vested in the presidency, including military command authority, will be transferred to the leader the moment their term begins.

Lee is expected to begin forming a Cabinet immediately upon taking office. On the last day of campaigning, Lee said Monday, “In general, the first appointments to be made should be the prime minister, the presidential chief of staff, and the senior secretaries.”

In 2017, then-President Moon Jae-in announced his selections for prime minister, National Intelligence Service director, presidential chief of staff and chief of the Presidential Security Service on the day of his inauguration following the early presidential election.

With Lee Jae-myung as president, Korea would have a unified government, with both the executive branch and the majority in the National Assembly aligned with the liberal Democratic Party — a stark contrast to the previous era of divided government under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The Democratic Party holds 171 seats in the 300-member parliament and is expected to wield immense power.

At the same time, Lee faces ongoing criminal trials — an issue that is likely to rekindle debate over whether presidents should have immunity for alleged criminal offenses committed before taking office.

The Democratic Party has submitted a request to convene an extraordinary National Assembly session starting Thursday, a day after Lee’s inauguration, should he be confirmed as president. Last month, the party pushed through two key bills that are now awaiting a plenary vote: an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that would suspend the five ongoing criminal trials against Lee should he take office, and a revision to the Public Official Election Act that would remove the term “act” from the requirements for the crime of disseminating false information during an election.

With Lee’s first retrial hearing for violating election law scheduled for June 18, the party is reportedly considering passing related legislative amendments before then.

The final voter turnout stood at 79.4 percent, surpassing the turnout recorded in the 2022 presidential election, according to the National Election Commission. This marks the fourth-highest turnout in South Korea’s presidential elections since the 1987 democratization movement.

Previous presidential election turnouts were as follows: 89.2 percent in 1987, 81.9 percent in 1992, 80.7 percent in 1997, 70.8 percent in 2002, 63 percent in 2007, 75.8 percent in 2012, 77.2 percent in 2017, and 77.1 percent in 2022.

Early voting turnout from May 29 to 30 was 34.74 percent, the second-highest since early voting was introduced in 2014, following the record 36.9 percent set during the 2022 presidential election.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the total number of registered voters for the presidential election stands at 44,391,871, comprising 44,133,617 domestic voters and 258,254 overseas voters, marking an increase of 194,179 from the previous presidential election in 2022.

dagyumji@heraldcorp.com