SEOUL: The candidates vying to lead South Korea kicked off their official campaigns today ahead of a snap presidential election to replace the country\u2019s impeached ex-leader, removed over a thwarted martial law bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 3, South Korean voters will pick a new president, offering closure after months of political turmoil triggered by Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s ill-fated effort to suspend civilian rule in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For 22 days from today, the six officially registered presidential candidates will campaign across the country, accompanied by ear-splitting blasts of re-written K-pop songs, with uniformed campaign staff performing choreographed dance moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The frontrunner by a large margin, polls show, is main opposition Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, with 43% support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of supporters gathered in central Seoul early today chanting \u201cLee Jae-myung, President!\u201d as Lee officially kicked off his campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee, who narrowly lost in 2022 presidential elections to Yoon, thanked all his supporters who \u201chelped rebuild after the painful defeat\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI promise to repay their support with victory,\u201d he told a cheering crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a chaotic few days of party infighting, the country\u2019s conservative People Power Party (PPP) said yesterday that former labour minister Kim Moon-soo would be their official candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim, who is polling at around 29% support according to most recent data, started his official campaign at a local market in Seoul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI genuinely believe I must become a president for the people: a president for livelihoods, a president for the economy,\u201d Kim told reporters this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI must be a president who ensures the people of South Korea live well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim was picked by the party on May 3, only to have his nomination cancelled a week later as party bigwigs sought to replace him with ex-prime minister Han Duck-soo, who was seen as a stronger bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the party\u2019s rank and file voted down the motion, meaning Kim was reinstated as the nominee by Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The turmoil has experts and PPP supporters warning that unless they get their act together, it will be an easy victory for Lee in the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe PPP is just a mess. They are just self-destructing,\u201d Lee Jung-ja, a 52-year-old self-described PPP voter told AFP, as he watched Lee kick off his campaign in downtown Seoul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven if they unite, it still won\u2019t be enough. All they\u2019re doing is fighting with each other. I bet Lee Jae-myung is gloating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experts believe the conservatives\u2019 internal chaos has weakened their chances in the election, a contest where they were already at a significant disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe upcoming election is likely to become a battle between Lee Jae-myung and those opposing him,\u201d said Kang Won-taek, a political science professor at Seoul National University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem, however, is that the opposing side, specifically the conservative camp, seems to be greatly divided.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact that both the last PPP presidents \u2013 Park Geun-hye and most recently Yoon \u2013 were impeached \u201creflects a broader crisis\u201d in the party, Kang said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The upcoming election may show that the conservative party \u201cno longer seems sustainable in its current form\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL: The candidates vying to lead South Korea kicked off their official campaigns today ahead of a snap presidential election to replace the country\u2019s impeached ex-leader, removed over a thwarted martial law bid. On June 3, South Korean voters will pick a new president, offering closure after months of political turmoil triggered by Yoon Suk […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,396,342],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-latest","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}