From poverty to presidency, the rise and rise of South Korea's Lee Jae-myung

South Korea voted on Tuesday (June 3) to elect its new president. Lee Jae–myung of the Democratic Party will become South Korea’s next president, winning the country’s first election triggered by a brief martial law imposed by the now impeached leader Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee's win comes as his main rival, the conservative Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party conceded defeat.

Earlier, a joint exit poll by three Korean broadcasters showed Lee bagging 51.7 per cent of the vote, while Kim trailed with 39.3 per cent. Lee will succeed the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, whose failed attempt to impose martial law plunged the East Asian country into political turmoil.

With Lee winning the 2025 South Korean presidential elections, let’s take a look at who he is.

Rags to riches tale

Liberal Lee Jae-myung, who will occupy South Korea ’s presidential Blue House soon, once lived in poverty.

Born in 1963 in a mountain village in Gyeongbuk Province’s Andong, Lee was the fifth of seven children. Due to his financial situation, he had to leave middle school to help support his family.

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Lee, who worked at several factories as a teen, described his childhood as “miserable” in a recent memoir, as per the BBC. At the age of 13, his one arm was permanently deformed in an industrial accident.

Later, Lee gave entrance exams for high school in 1978. He went on to study law at Chung-Ang University with a full scholarship and passed the state bar exam in 1986, reported The Korea Times.

Lee has two children with his wife, Kim Hye-kyung, whom he married in 1992.

Politics, controversies, assassination bid

After serving as a human rights lawyer for almost two decades, Lee entered politics in 2005. He began his political career with the Uri Party, a predecessor of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

After failing to become the Seongnam mayor in 2006, he won the elections for the post twice – in 2010 and 2014. Lee gained recognition for his welfare policies, like city-funded school uniforms.

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He also served as the governor of the Gyeonggi Province. Lee was thrown into the spotlight during the Covid-19 pandemic when he locked horns with the central government over providing universal relief grants for all residents of the province.

A controversial and divisive figure in South Korean politics, Lee has been derided by Korea’s upper class while earning the support of working-class voters.

“After [Lee’s] term as a governor, his reformist image faded somewhat as he focused more on his presidential ambitions,” Dr Lee Jun-han, professor of political science and international studies at Incheon National University, told the BBC. “Still, on certain issues – like addressing past wrongs [during the Japanese colonial era], welfare and corruption – he has built a loyal and passionate support base by taking a firm and uncompromising stance.”

Lee rose through the ranks of the Democratic Party to become its presidential candidate in the 2022 election. At the time, he vowed to implement a universal basic income scheme if he won. Lee lost the election to Yoon Suk Yeol by a wafer-thin margin of less than one per cent.

As the leader of the opposition party, Lee ramped up pressure on Yoon by launching an unprecedented impeachment bid against the South Korean president’s administration officials.

Last January, Lee was stabbed in the neck by a man who had asked him for an autograph. A two-hour surgery had to be carried out to repair his sliced jugular vein, as per Time magazine.

Now, he campaigns behind bulletproof glass, adorning a bulletproof vest, and surrounded by agents.

Lee’s career has been dogged by controversies and scandals. In 2004, he was involved in a drink-driving incident, a big taboo in Korea’s conservative society .

In 2018, allegations surfaced that Lee had an extramarital affair. He is also facing legal troubles that could haunt him during his expected presidency.

The charges against him include corruption, bribery and breach of trust linked to a land development project in 2023. Lee has also been accused of making a false statement in a televised debate during the 2022 presidential campaign, violating the Public Official Election Act.

In November 2024, Lee was convicted in the election case and awarded a one-year suspended prison sentence. In March, an appeals court cleared him of the charges. However, the ruling was overturned by South Korea’s Supreme Court.

The next hearing in the case is on June 18 at the Seoul High Court.

If Lee becomes the South Korean president, he could be protected, even if convicted, under Article 84, which bars a sitting president from criminal prosecution except in cases of insurrection or treason, as per The Korea Times.

Yoon’s downfall marks Lee’s rise

Lee’s fortunes turned as Yoon’s downfall began last December. After the then South Korean president declared martial law, 61-year-old Lee urged the public online to gather in protest outside the National Assembly building in central Seoul.

He live-streamed himself climbing over the fence as he and other lawmakers scrambled to pass the resolution to lift martial law.

“It was a race against time,” Lee told AFP in an interview.

President Yoon was later impeached by Parliament, the decision upheld by the Constitutional Court in April. The series of events led to Korea’s election being advanced to June.

Lee, who has his own legal battles to handle, will face many challenges as president, including a slowing economy, a belligerent North Korea, and US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

The Democratic Party candidate has promised to be pragmatic in foreign affairs, supporting the South Korea-US alliance and continuing the cooperation with Tokyo.

But will Lee be able to narrow the growing political polarisation in his country? We will have to wait and watch.

With inputs from agencies