Lee Jae-myung's bipartisan Reeboks sell out, now reselling for 10x the price
A pair of sneakers worn by South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung during his official campaign launch event on Monday has become an overnight sensation, selling out nationwide and fueling resales of the shoes.
To kick off the 22-day official campaign period for the June 3 election, the front-runner from the liberal Demcratic Party of Korea swapped out formal dress shoes for bold blue and red Reebok sneakers on stage before a large crowd of supporters and party members at Cheonggye Plaza, at the edge of Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul.
The model, Reebok's Classic Leather GY1522, was a deliberate choice for their blue and red color scheme to highlight Lee's pledges to bring together the country's liberal and conservative voters. While blue is the color of the liberals, red is typically associated with conservatives in South Korea today. The shoes had an additional embroidered patch with the slogan, "Lee Jae-myung, Now More Than Ever," on the left, and another reading "From now on, the real Republic of Korea," on the right.
The sneakers, originally launched in 2022, retailed for 89,000 won (around $62), though some sellers were offering them at a 60 percent discount before the sudden surge in interest. They are now out of stock on Reebok's official Korean website and major local e-commerce platforms, as of Wednesday 5 p.m.
Resellers have quickly stepped in. Some listings now advertise the shoes for as much as 339,300 won, more than 10 times the lowest retail price. Other platforms, like Naver Store, show prices between 150,000 and 200,000 won, with many units marketed as imported stock.
In his campaign speech, Lee said, 'We no longer have time to fight over ideology. There are no longer progressive or conservative problems, but only Korean citizens' problems.'
Whether the shoes will return to stores remains unclear. According to local media reports, Reebok Korea has yet to decide whether it will restock or re-import the product.
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Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Robert J. Fouser] South Korea's deep political divide
Lee Jae-myung of the slightly center-left Democratic Party of Korea began his presidency with a whirlwind of activity after winning a decisive victory in the recent presidential election. Though only ten days have passed, the election seems like a distant event. As with other elections, the results offer insight into the current state and future direction of South Korean politics. This was the ninth election held since the 1987 democratic reforms that permitted the direct election of the president to a single five-year term. Since then, no party has won more than two presidential elections in a row, and power has shifted from center-right to center-left groups four times. Similar shifts between parties have occurred in National Assembly elections, which are held every four years. These shifts suggest that South Korean voters are evenly divided. Lee Jae-myung's recent victory underscores this pattern. Going into the election, most polls predicted he would win over 50 percent of the vote, but he ultimately won 49.4 percent. Park Geun-hye is the only presidential candidate since 1987 to win a majority of the vote, having won 51.6 percent in 2012. Left-wing candidate Kwon Young-guk got just under 1 percent of the vote. Combined with Lee's 49.4 percent, center-left candidates earned a total of 50.4 percent. Though this is a majority, it is only slightly above the 50.2 percent that center-left candidates earned in 2022. In contrast, Kim Moon-soo, the leading center-right candidate from the People Power Party, won only 41.2 percent of the vote. This is the second-lowest percentage for a candidate from the established center-right bloc since 1987. Only Hong Joon-pyo did worse in 2017, winning 24 percent of the vote. Controversial right-wing candidate Lee Jun-seok won 8.3 percent of the vote, bringing the total for center-right candidates to 49.5 percent. Though Lee Jae-myung had a large lead over second-place candidate Kim Moon-soo, the combined vote total of center-right candidates has remained close to 50 percent in every election since 1987. In 2022, center-right candidates, including election winner and now disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol, garnered 49.4 percent of the vote. In 2017, Moon Jae-in won the election with 40.1 percent, and center-right candidates received 52.2 percent of the vote. These statistics suggest that South Korea is evenly divided between center-right and center-left groups, each dominated by a large party with historical roots. This means elections are decided by a small shift in votes or division within one of the groups. Both occurred in the recent election, helping Lee Jae-myung open a large lead over Kim Moon-soo. The same thing helped Moon Jae-in win in 2017. A look at any map of recent election results explains why neither group can win by a large margin. The results of the 2025 election show the country divided evenly between east and west, with the People Power Party in red on the right and the Democratic Party in blue on the left. There are splashes of red in the Gangnam area of Seoul and in rural areas of North and South Chungcheong Provinces, but most of the area is blue. The Honam region, centered on Gwangju, is deep blue. The east is dominated by red, with the Yeongnam region, centered on Daegu and Busan, being heavily red. This sharp division between Honam and Yeongnam has been a constant in South Korean elections since 1987. Though this division has lessened slightly in recent years, it remains significant at all levels of politics. Democratic Party candidates show strength in Busan and Ulsan, which have attracted residents from around the country. However, People Power Party candidates rarely win anywhere in Honam. The problem for the Democratic Party is that Yeongnam's population is twice that of Honam. Nationally, voters in their 40s and 50s overwhelmingly supported Lee Jae-myung, offsetting Kim Moon-soo's strong support in Yeongnam. Meanwhile, Lee Joon-seok's anti-establishment rhetoric attracted male voters in their 20s and 30s, who supported him in large numbers, confirming the emergence of another generational divide that first appeared in the 2022 presidential election. Ultimately, the election was triggered by the successful impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol for briefly imposing martial law in December 2024. Although polls showed that 60 percent of voters supported impeachment, Lee Jae-myung received just under 50 percent of the vote. This suggests that established regional and generational divides influenced voters more than the desire to repudiate Yoon by punishing the People Power Party at the ballot box. These deeply entrenched divides are likely to continue to influence South Korean politics for years to come. Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Providence, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@ The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.
Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Editorial] Opening state doors
President Lee's experiment with public input in appointments requires openness and integrity With South Korea still recalibrating its democracy after months of political turbulence — capped last week by an early presidential election — President Lee Jae-myung has taken a quietly radical step: opening the gates of government appointments to the public. Now underway and continuing through June 16, the initiative invites South Koreans to recommend candidates for major public posts — not through party pipelines or opaque vetting committees, but via the official website of the Ministry of Personnel Management, as well as email and social media. The image is striking: the cold machinery of state personnel decisions tempered, if briefly, by the warmth of popular input. The initiative, a campaign pledge of Lee's, is unprecedented in scope. Citizens aged 14 and older may nominate candidates for positions such as ministers, vice ministers and the heads of public institutions. The presidential office has promised that official agencies will conduct a formal vetting process before appointments are finalized. The symbolism is potent. In a country where presidential power has long been defined by tightly held appointment privileges, even a symbolic ceding of that authority signals a shift toward participatory governance. Lee has framed the effort as a 'meaningful first step' in making the people genuine participants in statecraft, marking a rhetorical and institutional departure from decades of bureaucratic centralism. But ideals are one thing. Execution is another. At its best, this initiative could discover overlooked talent, inject transparency into historically opaque hiring practices and act as a check against favoritism and ideological filtering. These are worthy goals in a democracy still contending with factionalism and entrenched hierarchies. Yet none of these outcomes are guaranteed. The project's integrity hinges, first and foremost, on the rigor of its screening process. Grassroots nominations must not come at the expense of professionalism, ethical standards or national security. A visionary idea quickly becomes a cautionary tale if it results in underqualified or politically motivated appointments — however well-intentioned their nominators may be. There is also the risk of manipulation. The same tools that democratize participation — online platforms, low entry thresholds, viral support mechanisms — are easily weaponized. Already, there are reports of coordinated efforts within Lee's own Democratic Party of Korea to nominate ideologically sympathetic figures en masse. If left unchecked, such tactics could blur the line between participatory democracy and digitized patronage. This is not South Korea's first foray into public nominations. In 2015, a similar initiative faltered under its own symbolic weight. Appointments proceeded through the usual backchannels, and the process lacked the transparency and accountability needed to earn public trust. That earlier failure underscores the stakes today. Citizens must not only be invited to participate; they must be shown clearly how their input affected, or did not affect, final decisions. And beyond all mechanics lies a constitutional truth: the ultimate authority over appointments rests with the president. But that authority does not function in isolation. It must be exercised with the support of aides, experts, institutional vetting and — when appropriate — public insight. Lee may open the door to civic participation, but it is his responsibility to ensure that what follows is more than symbolism: a process that is fair, rigorous and worthy of the trust it seeks to earn. Appointments are not mere gestures. They shape institutions, public confidence and the trajectory of national policy. Lee has made a bold move by inviting the people in — but he must also ensure the system works, and that the right people walk through the door.
Korea Herald
11 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Lee, Australian PM agree to strengthen cooperation in defense, arms, critical minerals
President Lee Jae-myung spoke by phone with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday. The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense, arms and critical minerals, his spokesperson said. During the 15-minute call, the first between the two leaders since Lee took office last week, Lee noted that the two countries have worked together as comprehensive strategic partners to bring stability and prosperity to the international community, spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said during a press briefing. The two leaders particularly noted ongoing cooperation in defense, arms, clean energy and critical minerals sectors, and agreed to further strengthen such cooperation, she said. The leaders also agreed to strengthen communication and cooperation for actual progress on the North Korean nuclear issue while working together for a successful summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, later this year. Kang added that the two agreed to meet in person in the future to discuss specific areas of cooperation that will help further strengthen bilateral relations.
