South Korea elects Lee president, capping 6 months of chaos

SEOUL, South Korea — Left-leaning challenger Lee Jae-myung won South Korea’s presidential election, ending three years of conservative rule in a race that was largely a verdict on his ousted predecessor’s botched attempt to revive martial law in the longstanding U.S. ally.

Lee, a former labor activist, won Tuesday’s election with 49.4% of the vote, a comfortable win over Kim Moon-soo of the incumbent People Power Party, according to the final count released by the National Election Commission. The agency, which said voter turnout reached a 28-year high of 79.4%, officially declared Lee as the nation’s 21st president at 6:21 a.m. local time on Wednesday. He will take the presidential oath in parliament at 11 a.m., Yonhap News reported.

“I will never forget the mission you expect of me and have entrusted me with, and I will firmly and reliably fulfill it without a single moment of deviation,” Lee said around 1:15 am near the National Assembly in Seoul, just before Kim conceded. Lee said he wanted to ensure the sovereignty of the people within a democratic country “where we live together with mutual recognition and cooperation rather than hatred and loathing.”

In his victory remarks, Lee said his first task was to avoid a recurrence of any imposition of martial law and his second was to revive the economy. The nation’s stock benchmark Kospi jumped 1.5% and the won rose 0.3% against the dollar on Wednesday.

Lee’s victory is expected to mark a turning point for South Korea after six months of chaos following the martial law debacle in December, a move that shocked the world, spooked markets and triggered the nation’s worst constitutional crisis in decades. He’ll also be looking to restore growth to a shrinking economy that is among the most vulnerable in the world to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Lee faces the immediate challenge of shoring up trade and military ties with the Trump administration, even as he looks to improve relations with China and North Korea. Although Lee has toned down his more aggressive comments toward the U.S. and Japan as he moved to the political center of late, vowing to build ties with both of them, he also favors a more balanced approach to dealing with Washington and Beijing, and the possibility of dialogue with Kim Jong Un’s regime.

“We will stabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula as quickly as possible to minimize the so-called Korea Risk and do our best to ensure that the livelihoods of our citizens do not worsen due to the security issues of the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said.

While Lee’s victory looks solid and a majority in parliament will help him advance legislation, it’s not the landslide he might’ve hoped for when former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and arrested. The final tally showed a third candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party and a former PPP leader, had garnered 8.3% of the vote — showing the conservative tally outweighed Lee’s support even after the debacle of Yoon’s martial law decree.

“Governing unilaterally, empowered by unified control of the executive and legislative branches, may be tempting, but will not address the underlying conditions of partisan polarization and mutual intolerance that led to last December’s insurrection,” said Celeste Arrington, a Korea expert at George Washington University.

Trade talks with the U.S. will provide an early test of Lee’s ability to balance foreign policy ties with domestic concerns, with exports equivalent to more than 40% of South Korea’s gross domestic product. Lee, who is expected to speak to Trump soon after his victory, has said policymakers shouldn’t rush into a deal with the U.S.

The 25% reciprocal levies slapped on South Korea are among the highest for a U.S. ally, should they come into effect after a 90-day suspension. Additional sectoral tariffs threaten to hurt key export sectors including semiconductors, cars, steel and aluminum.

“We actually have a decent number of bargaining chips,” Lee said in an interview with local broadcaster CBS aired on the eve of the election. “So there can be plenty of give and take. We just need to play it well.”

“This isn’t about me, it’s about all our people, so I’d crawl through Trump’s legs if needed,” Lee added.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy is a key player in supply chains, providing the world with everything from the latest smartphones and autos to ultra-large ships and cutting-edge chips. Exports had already softened before Trump announced his tariffs, but the shadow they cast over the economy has been among the factors prompting the Bank of Korea to lower interest rates.

But for many voters, tackling the economy is more about improving everyday livelihoods and people’s access to affordable housing and rewarding jobs than protecting the export sector.

Lee has already said he’ll rustle up 35 trillion won ($25.4 billion) in a stimulus package if elected to provide aid to households and businesses. He’s said he’ll try to increase the supply of housing, offer stronger labor protections, and curb the power of South Korea’s family-run conglomerates. He also favors corporate governance changes that he says will lift stocks on the Kospi benchmark above 5,000.

The new president will make an all-out effort to revive domestic demand through a stronger policy mix, Lee Kyoung-Min, a market strategist at Daishin Securities, wrote in a note Wednesday. A rebound in the global economy outside the U.S., combined with domestic industrial policy, is expected to sustain strong export momentum, Lee added.

He expects the Kospi index to climb above the 2,800 level in the third quarter and said buying on dips remains a reasonable strategy. The index ended Monday at 2,698.97. The ETF tracking the MSCI Korea Index finished up 0.2% overnight.

Among other policies he has floated are constitutional reform to enable two-term presidencies and the shutting down of the nation’s coal-fired power stations. He’s far less supportive of nuclear power than his conservative rival Kim.

Kim ended up getting more votes than initially expected, following his own party leadership’s efforts to replace him with a more centrist candidate. The support he gained shows the strength of conservative support even after Yoon’s martial law declaration.

Despite some concerns the conservative camp wouldn’t accept the results after borrowing slogans of Trump supporters such as “Stop the Steal,” Kim conceded without drama.

“I humbly accept the choice made by the people,” Kim said at party headquarters. “I extend congratulations to candidate Lee Jae-myung on his victory.”

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(With assistance from Ben Baris, Whanwoong Choi, Youkyung Lee, Seyoon Kim, Heesu Lee, Shinhye Kang, Sohee Kim, Jaehyun Eom and Sam Kim.)

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