# South Korea election - 2025

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-election-2025/1019051>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [May 31, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-election-2025/1019051 "2025-05-31T12:46:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-election-2025/1019051/1 "2025-05-31T12:46:57Z")

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Early voting has started in the Korean presidential election. Turnout appears to be heavy.

Main voting day is June 3.

Leading candidates appear to be

> Polls have placed Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party as the frontrunner among six candidates, followed by Kim Moon-soo from the ruling PPP.

Detailed article from BBC:

> **[South Korea: A simple guide to the 2025 presidential election](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e66565wj0o.amp)**
>
> The vote comes after the impeachment and removal of former president Yoon Suk Yeol.

And the Wikipedia article:

> **[2025 South Korean presidential election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_South_Korean_presidential_election)**
>
> Lee Ju-ho (acting)
> Independent

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korea-election-2025/1019051/2 "2025-06-04T00:46:53Z")

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Lee wins with just under 50% of the vote.

PPP candidate, Kim, actually conceded defeat, instead of trying the “stop the steal” motif, which apparently has been floated by some PPP supporters in the past.

However, he was not gracious in defeat:

> [@](#):
>
> Kim, a former labour minister under Yoon, warned that a victorious Lee would abuse his powers to retaliate against his political opponents and use his party’s majority in the national assembly to protect him in several court cases that will resume after the election.
> 
> Lee “is now trying to seize all power in [South Korea](https://www.theguardian.com/world/south-korea) and establish a Hitler-like dictatorship”, Kim told a rally in the south-eastern city of Busan.

> **[Lee Jae-myung wins election as South Korean president](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/03/lee-jae-myung-elected-as-south-korean-president-exit-polls-say)**
>
> Liberal who led campaign to oust Yoon Suk Yeol wins race as conservative opponent concedes defeat