April 10, 2025
SEOUL – Rep. Lee Jae-myung stepped down Wednesday as the chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, hinting toward his widely anticipated presidential bid.
“I am grateful that I was able to serve as the party’s chair for three years. Now I’m taking on a new job,” Lee said at a meeting of the Democratic Party leadership, without mentioning the presidential election on June 3.
“The Democratic Party has been my life. Most of my life, aside from my private life, has been the Democratic Party. It still is,” Lee said.
The Democratic Party’s rules require prospective candidates to leave their leadership positions to run for president.
Lee said it was “heartbreaking” to see the state of the South Korean economy. The South Korean won to US dollar rates, which were stabilizing after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was ousted on April 4, were once again soaring, he said.
Lee attributed the instability to acting President Han Duck-soo’s nomination of two Constitutional Court justices, which he claimed an acting president was not qualified to do.
“I wonder if the acting president realizes the mess he has caused this country,” the former Democratic Party leader said.
The acting president was “stepping out of line” with his justice nominations, according to Lee, which “serves as a reminder that the insurrection waged by Yoon isn’t over.”
Lee said that as a result of Yoon’s “insurrection,” referring to the ousted president’s botched imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, “so many in South Korea are still suffering.” There is no guarantee that things will get better tomorrow, or the day after that,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “Our great people have a history of overcoming adversities. I believe that the South Korean people will recover from this chaos as they have in the past, and together I will be on that journey.”
Lee will officially declare his bid for presidency via a 10-minute “Netflix-style” documentary, to be released on his personal Youtube channel at around 10 a.m. Thursday, according to his official.
The documentary will tell Lee’s stories of the reasons he is running and the kind of president he aspires to be, the official said.
Lee’s choice of launching his presidential run through an online clip departs from the traditional manner of announcements of presidential bids in the form of a press briefing or conference.
The former Democratic Party leader will hold a conference Friday where he will lay out his visions and goals as president.
Another Democratic Party contender, Kim Dong-yeon, the governor of Gyeonggi Province, announced his presidential run Wednesday.
Kim, who succeeded Lee as Gyeonggi governor, said he was running for president to “build a brand new South Korea” as he left for his US trip.
The governor said he was visiting automakers in the US in the wake of new tariffs. He was also due to meet with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to discuss the impact of the US imposing the steepest tariffs in more than a century.
“As governor, I feel obliged to step up and seek ways to soften the blow of the Trump administration’s new tariffs,” he said.
Kim said former Democratic Party President Moon Jae-in told him on the phone earlier the same day that he wished him “good results” in the coming election.