Lee Jae-myung, front runner for South Korea president, wins party primary

SEOUL – South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on April 27 named Lee Jae-myung, the party’s former leader, as its candidate for the snap presidential election slated for June 3.

He has been leading opinion polls for weeks with a double-digit gap over contenders from the conservative People Power Party, which will name its candidate on May 3.

“From this point on, Lee Jae-myung is not only the candidate of the Democratic Party, but also the candidate of all the people yearning for the end of insurrection, an overcoming of the crisis, for those who seek unity and happiness,” he said in an acceptance speech after winning his party’s candidacy.

Mr Lee said he would strengthen South Korea’s defence capabilities and work to make the country a leader in high-tech industries, a cultural powerhouse and an exemplary democracy.

He led the Democratic Party to a landslide victory in a parliamentary election in 2024 and had been widely expected to win the primary election after he easily defeated two other candidates in regional primaries.

The 61-year-old lawyer-turned-politician lost the last presidential election in 2022 by the slimmest margin in South Korea’s democratic history.

That election was won by Yoon Suk Yeol, who was

impeached by the Constitutional Court

earlier in April over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

In a separate speech earlier on April 27, Mr Lee compared Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law to abuses by earlier authoritarian leaders, promising to guide the country out of its political and economic crisis, including by easing tensions with North Korea.

Mr Lee was among the lawmakers who rushed to the National Assembly on the night of Mr Yoon’s Dec 3 martial law declaration to ensure Parliament voted down the military order.

In 2024,

Mr Lee survived a knife attack

in the southern city of Busan while touring the site of a proposed new airport and speaking to journalists and supporters.

Mr Lee, who became the party’s leader in 2022 and stepped down earlier in April to run for the presidency, is no stranger to controversy.

Earlier in 2025, an appeals court threw out his guilty verdict on charges of violating the election law earlier, though the Supreme Court is deliberating on the case for a final ruling.

He also faces several trials on matters ranging from bribery to charges mostly linked to a US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) property development scandal.

Before becoming the leader of the Democratic Party, Mr Lee also served as mayor of Seongnam and governor of Gyeonggi province, the most populous in the country. REUTERS