S.Korea’s main opposition party taps ex-party chief as presidential candidate

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Sunday, April 27, 2025

27/04/2025

South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party’s former leader Lee Jae-myung delivers his speech during a party’s convention in Goyang, South Korea on April 27. (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea, April 27, (AP): South Korea’s main liberal opposition party tapped Sunday its former leader Lee Jae-myung as presidential candidate in the upcoming June 3 vote.

The Democratic Party said Lee has won nearly 90% of the votes cast during the party’s primary that ended Sunday, defeating two competitors. The election is to replace the recently ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee lost the 2022 election to Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections. South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously removed Yoon from office earlier this month, ending his tumultuous presidency and setting up a new election, four months after he threw the nation into turmoil with an ill-fated declaration of martial law.