Front-runner Lee Jae-myung wins party primary for South Korea election

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

Lee has been leading opinion polls for weeks with a double-digit gap over contestants 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,” Lee said in an acceptance speech after winning his party’s candidacy.

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

Lee 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 from his party 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 this month over his short-lived imposition of martial law.