From escaping dying to turning into president: All about South Korea’s new president Lee Jae-Myung
Human rights lawyer and Democratic Get together candidate Lee Jae-Myung has gained the favored vote and is all set to grow to be the subsequent president of South Korea.
With the voter proportion nearing 80 per cent, the very best it has been in 28 years, South Koreans selected their subsequent president after six months of political turmoil triggered by the nation’s shortest interval of martial legislation.
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Addressing supporters in Seoul, Lee thanked the folks for his or her assist and vowed to work in direction of the unification of the nation via dialogue with North Korea. He additionally vowed to make sure one other navy coup or repeat of the martial legislation disaster doesn’t happen.
The place the numbers stand
With 93 p.c of the votes in, Democratic Get together Lee Jae-Myung is about to be president with 48.67 p.c of the vote. He will probably be sworn in as the subsequent president on Wednesday and start his time period instantly.
Individuals Energy Get together candidate Kim Moon-soo, who conceded defeat, misplaced the election with a complete of 42.24 p.c votes.
Win projected in exit polls as properly
Lee Jae-Myung, who was already main within the opinion polls forward of the vote, was additionally projected to win based mostly on the exit polls carried out by South Korean media.
As per KBS, Lee Jae-myung garnered 51.7 per cent of the voters, which is 12.4 factors greater than the Individuals Energy Get together’s Kim Moon-soo, who stood at 39 per cent.
Reform Get together candidate Lee Jun-seok stood at 7.7 per cent of votes within the exit polls.
Who’s Lee Jae-myung?
From escaping dying final yr to going viral for climbing the partitions of the Nationwide Meeting throughout martial legislation, the 61-year-old human rights lawyer is a key determine in South Korean politics prior to now few years.
Forward of his presidential bid, Lee served because the mayor of Seongnam in South Seoul for eight years. After this, he went on to function the governor of Gyeonggi province for 3 years.
Loss in 2022 elections
In 2022, the Democratic Get together candidate misplaced the presidential vote to PPP candidate Yoon Suk-Yeol by a razor-thin margin. Nonetheless, regardless of this loss, Lee went on to function a the chief of the South Korean opposition and have become an influential determine in Korean politics.
The previous little one labourer is understood for his inspirational rags-to-riches story. Together with his profession in politics, Lee has been criticised many occasions for his “populist” concepts which purpose to make South Korea a progressive society and to battle key points such because the nation’s deep-seated financial inequality, corruption and the gender-pay hole.
2024 Assassination try
In 2024, the opposition chief was stabbed within the neck with a seven-inch-long knife throughout a go to to Busan. The DP chief was airlifted to Seoul Nationwide College Hospital for therapy. As per officers, the suspect approached Lee underneath the pretext of an autograph and proceeded to stab the politician.
Lee goes viral
Through the martial legislation disaster in South Korea, former President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s ordered the navy to dam the entry to the Nationwide Meeting. Nonetheless, a number of politicians, incluidng Lee Jae-myung defied all odds to be current for the vote towards the imposition of martial legislation.
The opposition chief began a livestream on YouTube as he tried to climb the partitions of the Nationwide Meeting. Lee went viral for his effort to succeed in to parliament, the place the Nationwide Meeting then voted for the elimination of martial legislation.
