South Korea's underwhelming election: '3-week sprint that feels like a marathon'

It's been over a month since South Korea entered election mode with the Supreme Court confirming the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on April 4. This election season, much shorter than usual, feels underwhelming for many South Koreans. When Kim Moon-soo was finalized as the People Power Party's nominee on May 11, just 22 days remained until the June 3 presidential vote. By that time, his rival Lee Jae-myung had been the Democratic Party of Korea's nominee for almost two weeks. Poli

May 21, 2025

Clock is ticking, but demographic crisis gets drowned out in presidential race

The compounding challenges of South Korea’s low birth rate and the onset of a super-aged society have drawn little focus on the presidential campaign trail for the June 3 presidential election. The numbers alone underscore the urgency of strategically and systemically confronting the demographic crisis. South Korea’s fertility rate was recorded at 0.75 in 2024, meaning the average South Korean woman is expected to have fewer than one child in her lifetime. Still, the country found a sliver of re

May 21, 2025

Spouses of candidates join campaign efforts

The spouses of the two leading presidential candidates have been more visible on the campaign trail in recent weeks compared to previous election cycles. At the same time, they have avoided moves that could overshadow the candidates themselves, despite a political atmosphere fueling their rivalry. On Wednesday, Kim Hye-kyung, the wife of liberal Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung, visited the port of Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, where the hull of the Sewol ferry remains docked. K

May 21, 2025

[Policy Watch] Lee and Kim court voters with pet-friendly policy pledges

The top two presidential candidates on Wednesday rolled out pet-friendly policy pledges, including reducing pet care expenses and creating a more favorable environment for pet ownership. The liberal Democratic Party’s contender Lee Jae-myung pledged to “enact the Basic Animal Welfare Act and push for the establishment of the Animal Welfare Promotion Agency." Lee also promised to “prevent abuse and abandonment while promoting a healthy culture of pet ownership." Lee notably proposed introducing a

May 21, 2025

[Who's Ahead] Support rises for both Lee Jae-myung, Kim Moon-soo

Support for the two leading contenders — Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party and Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party — has risen in the three-way presidential race, with Lee maintaining a firm grip on the lead, a poll showed Wednesday. The poll, commissioned by local broadcaster YTN and conducted by polling agency Embrain Public, surveyed 1,001 adults nationwide from Sunday to Monday. The poll outcomes found that Lee Jae-myung garnered 50 percent support, followed by Pe

May 21, 2025

Ex-President Yoon attends screening of documentary on claims of election fraud

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday attended a screening of a controversial documentary alleging election fraud, in his first official outing other than attending court hearings since his impeachment in April. Yoon visited a theater in Seoul’s Dongdaemun District to watch the film “Korean Election Fraud, God’s will?” When asked by reporters why he came, Yoon entered the auditorium without responding. The documentary centers on claims of fraud in last year’s general election, during whic

May 21, 2025

Lee embraces center-right politicians; Kim clings to candidacy merger with minor party

Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung has embraced center-right politicians to expand his political support base, while People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo has targeted a candidacy merger with a conservative minor party to better challenge Lee. Their different campaign strategies were evident this week, as polls showed that Lee has kept a solid lead against Kim, with less than two weeks to go until the presidential election on June 3. Lee has called for fighting against "insurrection fo

May 21, 2025

Overseas voting begins in presidential election

South Korean nationals living or staying abroad went to the polls Tuesday to pick a new president as overseas voting began ahead of the June 3 election, according to embassy officials. The out-of-country voting will run for six days, with more than 258,000 South Korean nationals, including those registered as absentee voters, eligible to vote at 223 polling stations across 118 countries. In the US capital of Washington and three adjacent states, 4,272 South Korean voters have registered to cast

May 21, 2025

2 senior prosecutors offer to resign amid controversy over probe into ex-first lady

Two senior prosecutors who have faced criticism for allegedly mishandling a probe into former first lady Kim Keon Hee over her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme have offered to resign, judiciary sources said Tuesday. Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, and Cho Sang-won, deputy chief prosecutor at the same office, tendered their resignations to the justice ministry earlier in the day, according to the sources. Lee is known to have cited he

May 20, 2025

For 1st time in 18 years, women absent in S. Korea's presidential race

Half of South Korea's voters are women, but on the ballot to elect a new president, all the candidates are men for the first time in nearly two decades. The absence of female contenders marks the first all-male ballot since the 2007 election, when all 12 candidates were men, according to the official website of the National Election Commission’s Cyber Election History Museum. Female representation peaked in the 2012 election, when former President Park Geun-hye — then the leader of Saenuri Party

May 20, 2025

DP dismissed election libel, but now plays it up

The liberal Democratic Party of Korea is ramping up its attack against the conservative People Power Party, including its presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo, accusing him of false statements during the campaign period ahead of the June 3 presidential election. In the latest development, the Democratic Party made a criminal complaint against Kim for making a false beneficial statement about his career and property. The move was in stark contrast to the liberal party’s move a few weeks back, when

May 20, 2025

Kim Moon-soo fights to unite the right as conservatives defect to Lee Jae-myung

Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is widening his political tent, drawing in a wave of conservative defectors as his rival candidate, Kim Moon-soo, scrambles to unify a fractured party and revive a faltering bid to forge an anti-Lee alliance beyond party lines. With just two weeks to go until South Korea’s early presidential election on June 3, the two leading contenders, Lee representing the liberal Democratic Party of Korea and Kim the conservative People Power Party, are charting sharply d

May 20, 2025

Debate over Gender Ministry reenters presidential campaign

The debate over abolishing the Gender Ministry has been reignited in this year’s presidential campaign in the pledges of top candidates. Last week, Lee Jun-seok, candidate for the minor conservative New Reform Party, revived his earlier pledge from the 2022 presidential election campaign to shutter the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for good. He included the goal as part of his top policy pledges, saying the ministry’s responsibilities would be redistributed between the Ministry of Inter

May 20, 2025

Parliamentary forum launches to bridge partisan divide on foreign policy

The National Assembly Futures Institute on Tuesday launched Korean Consensus, a forum for overcoming partisan divides on foreign and security policies. The forum aims to bridge the two parties' positions on foreign affairs and foster some consistency in policy attitudes from one administration to the next. South Korea's foreign and security policies have been "short-sighted," lasting only for the five years of a single administration, according to, Futures Institute president Kim Ki-sik. Korean

May 20, 2025

People Power Party proposes TV debate with candidates' spouses, Lee Jae-myung says no

Rep. Kim Yong-tae, the conservative People Power Party's interim chair, proposed on Tuesday a televised debate between the candidates' spouses before early in-person voting for the presidential election in South Korea begins next week. At a press conference Tuesday, Kim said his party had proposed a TV debate between Seol Nan-young, the wife of the party's candidate Kim Moon-soo, and Kim Hye-kyung, the spouse of the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung. "A first lady is not j

May 20, 2025