Early this month, South Korea conducted its presidential election, selecting the Democratic Party of Korea’s Lee Jae-myung as their next leader. It likely does not come as much surprise that the incumbent conservative People Power Party was passed over after the tumultuous outing of the previous president for enacting martial law.
Lee’s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the country for the first time since the 1980 pro-democracy protests. Claiming concerns about perceived threats from North Korea, President Yoon was able to restrict all political activities, control media content, and arrest any violators. This was met by immediate and powerful condemnation from lawmakers and citizens on both sides of the aisle with even Yoon’s party leader Han Dong-hoon claiming “this is an unlawful and unconstitutional declaration of martial law. The Republic of Korea is a free democracy, and we will protect our democracy with the people.” Within hours, lawmakers forcefully entered the legislative building against military personnel to conduct a vote to block the decree. Current President Lee was one of the lawmakers leading this vote and even livestreamed his entry into the building, jumping over fences, to vote. Soon thereafter, Yoon was impeached and removed from office in April.
The 2025 elections saw more than 80% voter turnout after weeks of divisive protests across the country. Although Yoon’s term was meant to end in 2027, his disgraceful ousting required a new election to be conducted within 60 days. In the previous election, Yoon surpassed Lee by a 0.73% difference in votes, one of the tightest margins the country’s elections have ever seen. However, this year saw Lee win by a significant margin––over 8% (~2.9 million votes), one of the largest margins in recent years.
The biggest issues the new South Korean president will have to tackle range from economic stability to international relations. With President Trump’s significant tariffs on South Korean exports adding to the economic instability following the martial law crisis, the country must fight against a potential recession. This adds to consistent tensions at the North Korean border, which Lee has mentioned hoping to ease relations with, and icy relations with China. The country is also looking to tackle the aging population and one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
President Lee faces hurdles in unifying a nation split on policy and ideals. According to political science Professor Kim Jun-seok of Dongguk University, “Now [Lee] has restoration of democracy as one of his tasks. Nonetheless, there are huge challenges faced by South Korea. A grim outlook on the economy that’s projected to grow maybe less than 1%. And there’s a crisis outside, dealing with Trump. He has a lot of work to do.” Entering the highest office at this time of uncertainty, Lee will need to unite the country and re-establish its security and stability on the world stage.