Closely contested presidential election of South Korea

 

South Korean Election

Lee Jae-myung, just three years ago, lost South Korea's presidential election by less than 1%. The Democratic Party has nominated him again for the snap election, to be held on June 3.

At the primary, Lee stuck to populist messaging.

Now the South Korean people and party members have given me an opportunity to create a new country, a real Republic of Korea, by regaining control of the government.

Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party Presidential Candidate

Han emphasized national security and described cordial relations with US President Donald Trump.

The military cooperation and alliance between South Korea and the United States should be strengthened even more in the future.

Han Duck-soo, Independent Presidential Candidate

Lee Jae Myung was more than 30 percentage points ahead of the leading conservative candidates just three weeks ago, before former Prime Minister Han expressed interest in running for the top office. The gap between Lee and Han is currently around 10%.

While economic issues will figure heavily, many South Koreans desire a shift away from the country's hard-line strategy toward the North.

North Korea and South Korea should be united in near future. So the approach should be not kind of, you know, attacking them, not, you know, protecting us from the North Korea, instead, rather, we have to be we have to take the friendship approach.

Paek Jung-ho, IT Strategist

The front-runner Lee faces ongoing criminal trials over corruption and campaign violations, and conservatives may unify their candidacies with Han, further tightening the race.