Just hours after winning the South Korean presidency, Lee Jae-myung has pledged to “unite the people” in his inauguration speech on Wednesday.
The 61-year-old won a snap election by 49.4% – a clear rejection of his rival, Kim Moon-soo, who came from the same party as impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol.
Yoon triggered months of political chaos after he attempted to impose martial law, which eventually resulted in his impeachment.
As he takes on the top job, Lee now faces the daunting task of not only uniting the country, but also balancing ties with its most important ally, the US, under President Trump’s unpredictable brand of diplomacy.
In a clear reference to his predecessor, the Democratic Party’s Lee said in his address that he would “never again” allow democratic institutions to be threatened, adding that he would “become a president who ends the politics of division”.
Speaking to a crowd in front of parliament – where just over six months ago he jumped over the perimeter wall to vote down Yoon’s martial law declaration – Lee blamed the country’s political turmoil on “political factions with no desire to work for the lives of the people”.
He also pledged to build a “flexible, pragmatic government” and announced that an emergency economic task force would be “activated immediately”.
It’s a remarkable comeback for a man who has been caught in several political scandals, from investigations over alleged corruption to family feuds – though analysts and officials say his win was a clear capitalisation of public anger.
“The people judged the December 3 martial law [incident] as a violation of democracy,” National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik told BBC Korean in an exclusive interview.
“This election was not only a judgment on that, but also a reflection of the public’s demand to properly restore democratic principles.”
Woo said the result was “a fair reflection of the will of the people” and “clearly expressed the people’s intent”.
