Liberal Lee leads in exit polls in South Korea's presidential race

Kyodo News

2 days ago

KYODO NEWS - 2 hours ago - 21:13 | World, All
Lee Jae Myung of the liberal Democratic Party was leading in exit polls in Tuesday's presidential election in South Korea, held to choose a successor to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, who polarized the nation by imposing martial law.
Poll results showed Lee secured 51.7 percent of the vote, ahead of Kim Moon Soo of the conservative People Power Party with 39.3 percent and Lee Jun Seok of the New Reform Party with 7.7 percent.
More than 14,000 polling stations opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m. Of the over 44 million eligible voters, about 34.7 percent had already cast ballots during early voting on Thursday and Friday.
The winner will assume office for a single five-year term. The presidency has been vacant since April 4, when Yoon was removed following a Constitutional Court ruling that upheld a parliamentary impeachment over his brief declaration of martial law in December.
According to a Gallup Korea poll released May 27, Lee Jae Myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 election, is leading with 49 percent support, buoyed by voter dissatisfaction over the turmoil sparked by Yoon's Dec. 3 decree.
Kim, who served as employment and labor minister under Yoon, trails in second with 35 percent, according to the same poll. Lee Jun Seok garnered 11 percent.
Lee Jae Myung has pledged to revise legislation on martial law to tighten the requirements for a presidential declaration and to revitalize small and medium-sized businesses to boost the sluggish economy.
On foreign policy, Lee Jae Myung has pledged to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance and trilateral cooperation with Japan to address the North Korean nuclear threat while also seeking to improve ties with China and Russia.
Lee Jae Myung, who took a hard line on the wartime labor compensation issue with Japan during the 2022 campaign, said he would not compromise on that or the territorial dispute over the South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
But calling Japan an "important and cooperative partner," he pledged to deepen collaboration in areas such as the economy.
Kim's key pledges include creating more jobs, offering subsidies to young married couples to tackle the nation's low birthrate and bolstering deterrence against Pyongyang's nuclear threat by developing a nuclear-powered submarine.
He has called for maintaining a "good and friendly relationship moving forward" with Japan while reaffirming South Korea's stance on issues stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule and asserting its sovereignty over the disputed islets.
Lee Jun Seok launched the small conservative New Reform Party last year after serving as leader of the PPP and later leaving it.
Local media have reported that he had been under pressure from the PPP to drop his candidacy to boost Kim's chances, as a growing number of young voters prefer Lee Jun Seok, 40, who is younger than Lee Jae Myung, 60, and Kim, 73.
The incoming president will face pressing challenges, including tariff negotiations with the United States over the 25 percent duty announced on April 2, when President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on numerous countries.
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