SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will hold a snap presidential election within 60 days after the Constitutional Court unanimously removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office on Friday, upholding his impeachment for imposing martial law last year.
Presidents can serve a single five-year term in South Korea, and recent opinion polls show the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party is well ahead, though he faces his own legal challenges.
Here are some potential contenders for the presidential election.
LEE JAE-MYUNG
The Democratic Party leader is regarded as by far the top contender. The veteran politician lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election by the slimmest margin in history.
Leading by double-digits in some recent polls, Lee is among the lawmakers who rushed to the National Assembly on the night of Yoon’s December 3 martial law declaration to ensure parliament voted down the military order.
Lee, 61, led his party to a landslide victory in a parliamentary election last year and enjoys strong support from liberal voters.
Still, Lee has his own court battles. Although a court threw out his guilty verdict on charges of violating the election law, he faces several trials on matters ranging from bribery to charges mostly linked to a $1-billion property development scandal.
In 2024, he survived a knife attack at an event and underwent surgery for stabs to the neck.
HAN DONG-HOON
The ex-leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party is considered a top conservative contender. He was a particularly vocal opponent of Yoon’s martial law declaration.
The 51-year-old prosecutor-turned-politician resigned as PPP leader amid friction in the party over his call for Yoon to resign over the martial law declaration.
Han is popular with moderate conservative voters but faced criticism from Yoon supporters who accused Han of betraying his party and allowing Yoon’s impeachment by the National Assembly in December.
KIM MOON-SOO
The labour minister has been polling higher than other conservative contenders, though he has said he was not considering running for the presidency.
Kim, like many other conservative politicians, criticised the arrest of Yoon and the impeachment hearings conducted by the Constitutional Court.
The 73-year-old would likely be the oldest candidate if he decides to run.
OH SE-HOON
The conservative four-term mayor of Seoul is an advocate for South Korea to consider nuclear armament to counter arch rival North Korea.
“Along with having nuclear potential, we need to be prepared to put our own nuclear weapons on the table as a possible strategic option,” he posted on Facebook in January.
Oh this year unveiled his regulatory reform slogan “KOGA (Korea Growth Again)”, inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
Oh’s reforms target boosting the economic growth rate to 5% from last year’s 2%.
HONG JOON-PYO
Hong, mayor of the conservative stronghold Daegu, has said he is preparing for the next presidential election even while calling for the Constitutional Court not to oust Yoon.
The five-term lawmaker for the PPP and its predecessors lost the 2017 presidential election to Moon Jae-in.
Hong has been a vocal critic of ruling party former leader Han for distancing himself from Yoon.
KIM DONG-YEON
The governor of Gyeonggi Province has emerged as another potential contender from the opposition.
Kim told Reuters in January that “there might be tough times ahead of us, especially for countries like Korea” and that the alliance between Seoul and Washington will be “very concrete”, whoever heads the administration.
He said whoever stands for the Democratic Party should win the election.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Additional Reporting by Joyce Lee and Echo Wang in Davos; Editing by Ed Davies, Michael Perry and William Mallard)
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