Candidates make last-minute pitches to the public on Election Day eve

Home > National > Politics

Candidates make last-minute pitches to the public on Election Day eve

Published: 02 Jun. 2025, 18:51 Updated: 02 Jun. 2025, 19:23

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

From left: Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, gives a thumb’s up as he campaigns in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi, on June 2, on the eve of the presidential election. Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party makes a heart with his at Dongdaegu Station in Daegu on June 2. Lee Jun-seok, presidential candidate of the minor Reform Party, speaks at a rally at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on June 2. [NEWS1/YONHAP]

Tomorrow is Election Day, with Koreans set to select a new president after six months of turbulence that followed the abrupt imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 last year.

On the eve of the June 3 election, all three major presidential hopefuls toured the greater Seoul area, a battleground region, making their final dash through last-minute campaigning.

On Monday, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), 60, rallied in Seoul’s Gangbuk and Gangseo Districts and Gyeonggi’s Seongnam, Hanam and Gwangmyeong.

Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, campaigns in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi on June 2, a day ahead of the presidential election. [YONHAP]

Lee vowed to “integrate” the politically and socially polarized country and “create a new future for Korea by pursuing fair growth and fixing economic imbalances,” citing initiatives he introduced during his time as Seongnam mayor and Gyeonggi governor.

“Please give me, Lee Jae-myung — a competent and dedicated [public] worker who delivered results through actions — a chance to make Korea greater,” Lee said during his final press conference before the election, held at a church in Seongnam, where Lee first decided to become a politician in March 2004.

Lee said his drive to provide school uniforms for free and a basic income scheme for the youth population improved public livelihoods, noting that tasks once deemed impossible were realized through his leadership.

Lee also stressed the background of the snap election — an attack on the conservative People Power Party (PPP) that backed ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, the instigator of the Dec. 3 martial law decree. He said the election should “hold the insurrection faction accountable,” adding that rejecting the PPP would help “normalize” the country. The DP has likened the martial law decree to an act of insurrection, calling Yoon's allies the "insurrection faction."

Lee was scheduled to conclude his three-week-long campaign in Yeouido, home of the National Assembly, where lawmakers lifted martial law in the early hours of Dec. 4.

Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party campaigns for voters' support in front of Busan Station on June 2, a day ahead of presidential election. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

Kim Moon-soo, the 73-year-old PPP presidential candidate, traversed the country from the southern Jeju Island to Seoul, on a northbound route along the Gyeongbu Line.

PPP Rep. Shin Dong-uk, a spokesperson for Kim’s campaign, said the trail “embodied a future-oriented approach as the Gyeongbu Line played a pivotal role in national growth and development.” The Gyeongbu Line connects Seoul to the southern port city of Busan, serving as a central logistics and travel channel nationwide.

During a campaign in front of Busan Station, Kim asked voters for “overwhelming support to open a hopeful era for Koreans.” He also apologized for the martial law imposition, saying it “should not have happened.”

Kim also apologized for not merging his campaign with another right-leaning candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the minor Reform Party. However, he seemingly presented himself as a more promising candidate than the Reform Party’s Lee. “If you vote for Lee Jun-seok, it will only help Lee Jae-myung of the DP,” Kim said.

Kim said Election Day is when people “choose freedom over dictatorship,” a rhetorical swipe at the DP's Lee, a populist the PPP has accused of having authoritarian tendencies.

Kim condemned the DP's Lee for allegedly attempting to monopolize power "like Adolf Hitler,” referencing the DP’s recent pressure on judges who ruled against Lee in an election law violation case. Kim accused Lee of engaging in parliamentary tyranny, seemingly referencing the DP's railroading of impeachments against government officials appointed by Yoon.

“I will build a greater Korea where hard-working Koreans are respected and a country free of corruption and falsehood,” Kim said. “I will also revive the public livelihood.”

Kim’s final campaign event was set to take place in front of Seoul City Hall in downtown Seoul.

Lee Jun-seok, presidential candidate of the minor Reform Party, eats a meal with college students at the Tech University of Korea in Siheung, Gyeonggi, on June 2, a day ahead of the presidential election. [NEWS1]

Lee Jun-seok, 40, from the minor Reform Party, visited the Tech University of Korea in Siheung, Gyeonggi, to canvass the youth vote, especially from people in engineering and science. He has positioned himself as a young and scientific leader who could innovate Korean politics and its old mindset.

Lee Jun-seok will finish his presidential campaign in the North Gyeongsang region, traditionally a conservative stronghold.

“I will change outdated conservatives into a new form of future-oriented conservatives,” Lee said.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]