South Korean President's key rival elected opposition leader

SEOUL • South Korea's main opposition picked a high-profile rival of the President as its new leader, adding to the government's challenges as it struggles to build support after three months in office.

The progressive Democratic Party elected Mr Lee Jae-myung yesterday to lead the charge against conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Mr Lee, a populist who pushed to introduce universal basic income, narrowly lost to Mr Yoon in March in a bitterly contested presidential election where the candidates berated each other on the campaign trail.

Mr Lee won 77.8 per cent of the total vote in the party election and was followed by two-term lawmaker Park Yong-jin, with 22.2 per cent.

The new party leader said in his acceptance speech that the election result was the people's "order to save the Republic of Korea from the despair" of the Yoon administration.

The new party leader faces the challenge of reviving a Democratic Party that dominates Parliament but has been losing major elections, including races in June for provincial governors and mayors of the two biggest cities of Seoul and Busan.

Public sentiment towards the party soured when it controlled the presidency for five years from 2017 and housing costs soared, with average apartment prices in Seoul doubling during that time.

Mr Lee has vowed to fight the Yoon administration's "misdoings". This includes the President's attempt to create a police bureau that could allow his government to assume greater control over the powerful law enforcement agency.

Mr Yoon's approval rating has fallen to a low of 27 per cent in a weekly Gallup Korea tracking poll released on Friday.

BLOOMBERG