With just three days remaining until a highly anticipated presidential election, thousands of supporters gathered across Seoul today to rally behind South Korea’s two leading candidates, following the downfall of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was ousted in April after declaring a state of emergency.
The June 3rd election is expected to bring an end to months of political unrest stemming from Yoon’s impeachment on April 4, which left the nation in a constitutional crisis.
Liberal Frontrunner Leads Polls
Leading the race is Lee Jae-myung, a former lawyer and head of the centrist-liberal Democratic Party. According to the latest poll from the Gallup Research Institute, Lee could secure as much as 49% of the vote.
His conservative rival, Kim Moon-soo, a former Minister of Labor representing the People Power Party (PPP) — recently abandoned by Yoon — is polling at around 35%.
Tensions High on the Streets of Seoul
In southern Seoul, Lee’s supporters held banners condemning what they called the “rebellion” of the ousted president. Meanwhile, Kim’s backers rallied in other districts with signs reading “Yoon Again” and “Early voting is invalid.”
Protesters have also demanded the dissolution of the National Election Commission, citing irregularities during the early voting period on Thursday and Friday. Over one-third of the nation’s 44.4 million voters participated in early voting, despite reported logistical issues.
High Stakes for South Korea’s Future
The new president of this nation of 52 million people will inherit a complex array of challenges:
- A worsening economic crisis with rising inflation and youth unemployment
- A plummeting birth rate threatening the country’s demographic balance
- Ongoing security threats from nuclear-armed North Korea
- Navigating geopolitical tension between the United States, South Korea’s traditional security ally, and China, its largest trading partner
This election is seen not only as a test of democratic stability in a turbulent moment, but also as a critical pivot point for South Korea’s domestic and international posture.
