Who is Lee Jae-myung, Korea's next president?
Published: 04 Jun. 2025, 01:21
Updated: 04 Jun. 2025, 05:23
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- LEE SOO-JUNG
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party, the newly elected president, sings the Korean national anthem at his final rally site in Yeouido, western Seoul, on June 2, a day ahead of the election. Bullet-proof glass panels are seen to shield Lee from threats. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/15560e4b-14a3-406b-9b90-9f35ff36ff14.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party, the newly elected president, sings the Korean national anthem at his final rally site in Yeouido, western Seoul, on June 2, a day ahead of the election. Bullet-proof glass panels are seen to shield Lee from threats. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]
Lee, the 61-year-old two-term DP lawmaker, previously served two terms as Seongnam mayor and one term as Gyeonggi governor. He also was DP chief until earlier this year and is now set to serve five years in the highest office.
Lee was born to farmer parents in October 1963 in North Gyeongsang, a conservative stronghold.
![Lee Jae-myung is seen in a photo taken in 1978, when he worked at a factory making baseball gloves in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. [LEE JAE-MYUNG'S CAMP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/dfc294c6-9c9d-4aa1-a0e0-ff41d236cff4.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung is seen in a photo taken in 1978, when he worked at a factory making baseball gloves in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. [LEE JAE-MYUNG'S CAMP]
However, Lee gradually climbed the social ladder as he continued his schooling. He earned a general education diploma, a high school equivalency certificate, in 1980 and later entered Chung-Ang University’s College of Law. He passed the state bar exam in 1986.
During his college years in the 1980s, when the nationwide pro-democracy movement was on the rise, he remained somewhat diffident despite his friends’ calls for him to engage in labor and political activism. Instead, he chose to pursue democratic reform from within the system.
Lee grew more vocal as he offered legal support for marginalized people in Seongnam. He volunteered as a legal counselor at a local YMCA branch. In 1989, he opened a legal office in Seongnam, which he called his “second hometown.” Lee claimed he was the city's only “human rights attorney” at the time.
![Lee Jae-myung, 16, is seen in a photo taken in 1979, when he was working at a factory making baseball gloves. [LEE JAE-MYUNG'S BLOG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/68f8b47b-4835-43e9-9361-00a526b7363c.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung, 16, is seen in a photo taken in 1979, when he was working at a factory making baseball gloves. [LEE JAE-MYUNG'S BLOG]
When Lee’s effort to construct the hospital was thwarted, some activists illegally occupied the council building. Lee was accused of orchestrating the action and faced an arrest order. Taking refuge in a church basement, he resolved to become mayor "to change realities" in the city in March 2004.
![Lee Jae-myung, then an attorney, appears on an MBC TV program. [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/b98774fd-0b36-4e64-a3ad-4eec4e6070ac.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung, then an attorney, appears on an MBC TV program. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
In 2010, Lee was elected as the Seongnam mayor, serving two terms until 2018.
In 2016, Lee rolled out a key initiative offering dividends in the form of local vouchers to Seongnam’s youth. Residents aged 19 to 24 who had lived in the city for three years or longer were eligible to receive 250,000 won ($180) in local vouchers every quarter. The policy appeared to be a predecessor of his presidential pledge — a handout of 250,000 won to every Korean.
![Lee Jae-myung arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 25 to testify in the trial of the Daejang-dong development scandal. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/ded154b3-6d93-470b-98b1-6075d64835d3.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 25 to testify in the trial of the Daejang-dong development scandal. [YONHAP]
Lee was indicted for breach of trust by excluding the city-owned developer from the Baekhyeon-dong development project in Gyeonggi, causing a loss of 20 billion won, and skewing the profit distribution scheme of the Daejang-dong development to favor minor investors.
Lee was also accused of taking bribes in the form of sponsorship for the local football team Seongnam FC from major companies like Doosan and Naver, totaling 18.3 billion won, in exchange for construction permits for their headquarters in Seongnam from 2014 to 2016.
In 2018, Lee was elected as the governor of Gyeonggi, Korea’s most populous region with 13.49 million residents at the time.
After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lee introduced a basic income scheme in the province — the distribution of 100,000 won vouchers to every Gyeonggi resident — to prevent an economic slowdown due to the pandemic. He also promoted a local voucher, which could be used instead of cash issued by the Bank of Korea, as his staple policy.
![Lee Jae-myung, then-Seongman mayor, explains about dividends for youth populations at Seongnam City Hall in Gyeonggi in October 2015. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/525c7b9b-5933-4373-92bc-a98c3029754f.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung, then-Seongman mayor, explains about dividends for youth populations at Seongnam City Hall in Gyeonggi in October 2015. [YONHAP]
Lee is currently on trial for alleged third-party bribery and violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, with prosecutors accusing him of trying to curry favor with North Korea by enlisting underwear manufacturer Ssangbangwool to pay a total of $8 million to North Korea on his behalf.
In November, Lee was also indicted for misappropriating a state-issued credit card for his benefit. Lee was suspected of spending 165 million won of the Gyeonggi provincial government’s budget to buy fruit, sandwiches and food and pay laundry fees between July 2018 and October 2021.
Lee resigned from the governor position in October 2021 to run for president in the March 2022 election. He then lost to his rival, ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, by a razor-thin margin of 0.73 percentage points.
![Lee Jae-myung bows after accepting his defeat in the 2022 presidential election on March 10, 2022. [KIM KYOUNG-ROK]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/ae1935c1-41c7-480b-b912-a35701945df5.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung bows after accepting his defeat in the 2022 presidential election on March 10, 2022. [KIM KYOUNG-ROK]
Instead of returning to Gyeonggi, he became a lawmaker representing Incheon’s Gyeyang-B district through the by-elections of June 2022. The electoral district leans heavily toward the DP. He was re-elected in the April general election last year for the same constituency.
In August 2022, three months after Yoon’s inauguration, Lee became the DP’s chief. Under his direction, the party adopted a resolute stance against Yoon until the president's ouster in early April, railroading special counsel probe bills against first lady Kim Keon Hee and 30 impeachment motions against Yoon-appointed government officials and ministers.
![Lee Jae-myung is seen on the ground after being stabbed during his visit to the site of the new international airport on Gadeok Island, Busan, on Jan. 2 in last year. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/04/ccc08c20-7331-40f7-b9f9-fad0bc063258.jpg)
Lee Jae-myung is seen on the ground after being stabbed during his visit to the site of the new international airport on Gadeok Island, Busan, on Jan. 2 in last year. [YONHAP]
Yoon’s earlier-than-expected exit from the presidential office gave Lee a new opportunity for a presidential bid. His approval rating in the DP’s primaries for the presidential election stood at 89.77 percent, a historic high.
He could also complete the race without legal uncertainties as the judiciary accepted his request to postpone proceedings until after the election.
Like his ousted predecessor, Lee hasn't been free of family controversy. His wife, Kim Hye-kyung, was convicted of misappropriating the provincial government's credit card and violating election laws as she spent the Gyeonggi provincial government's money to offer meals to spouses of DP lawmakers in 2021. An appellate court sentenced her to pay a fine of 1.5 million won, though Kim has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
Lee's first son was also found guilty of publishing sexually explicit online posts and online gambling and was ordered to pay a 5 million fine last year.
Overcoming such challenges and controversies, Lee as Korea's 14th president, is now tasked with rebuilding a deeply divided nation.
BY LEE SOO-JUNG, MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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