It hasn't even been 5 years and South Korea is preparing to elect their new president. Yoon suk yeol current president of South Korea was ousted for declaring martial law on December/3/2024. He said he did this to protect the country from pro-north Korean anti-state forces. Seeing this emergency situation a meeting was arranged, lawmakers from the opposition and yoon's own party also raised a vote against this. Finally martial law was over after 6 hrs. The last time it was declared in South Korea was in 1979 when long term military dictator park chung hee Was assassinated.
south Korea’s next presidential election is expected to be held on June/3/2025. The campaigns had began, the front runner is Lee jae-myung of the liberal democratic party his rival is Kim moon-soo of the people power party. Kim launched his campaign at a market in Seoul. He said, “if elected he would demand an immediate summit with Donald Trump to negotiate tariffs and take a hard line against nuclear-armed North Korea. He has promised to create a more business-friendly environment to encourage private investment and to increase housing support for young people and newly married couple”. “I must be a president who ensures the people of South Korea live well”. But his selection as a candidate for this election has been very chaotic. First he was selected to run for president in early may but his candidacy was replaced with the former prime minister Han Duck-soo, in hope to defeat resurgent Lee. However many members where not in support with this as a result they voted down against him and Kim was reinstated. Seems that there is a lot of infighting within the party.
Whereas, Lee has campaigned in a bullet proof vest claiming that law makers from democratic Party had received a text message warning of an assassinate plot. He was also tabled in the neck during a press conference in January 2024, referring to this he said to his supporters “Inequality, polarization, and insurrection have driven our society into extreme division and conflict to the point where a presidential candidate should wear a bulletproof vest at election campaigns”. Lee has said if elected “he will boost economic growth through AI and the Korean culture wave a major driver of exports and inbound tourism and offer tax incentives to encourage couples to have more children. He has vowed to restart a dialogue with North Korea despite the regime's development of nuclear weapons and military alliance with Russia”.
Only two weeks are left until the election, one poll gave Lee a lead over Kim of 43% to 29%, while another put Lee on 49% and Kim on 38.2%.
south Korea is Asia's fourth biggest economy which is currently dealing with a super ageing society one of the world’s lowest birth-rates and the fallout from Donald Trump's tariff wars. At this moment south Korea needs a president who will ensure political and economic stability and also resolve the inner conflict of the country.
- Reported by Kanta Kumari
Intern at The Korean Academy
Korean News Analysis and Reporting
