South Korea's presidential race heats up

Seoul [South Korea], April 11: One after another, South Korean politicians announced their candidacy to succeed former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Who has the advantage?
On April 10, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in South Korea, Lee Jae-myung, officially announced his candidacy for president, in the context that South Korea will hold early elections on June 3. Lee is the leading candidate in polls for a possible successor to former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, after Yoon was ousted on April 4 over the imposition of martial law late last year.
A Gallup poll on April 4 showed Lee receiving 34 percent support for the presidency, compared with 9 percent for Kim Moon-so, South Korea's former labor minister and member of the ruling People Power Party (PPP). Speaking in a video released on April 10, Lee pledged to overcome inequality and boost economic growth, according to Reuters. He added that it will promote large-scale investments at the government level in technology and talent development. On foreign affairs, Lee emphasized the importance of alliances with the United States and Japan, but also affirmed that he will put national interests first.
In 2022, Lee narrowly lost to Yoon Suk Yeol in the presidential election. Last year, he led his party to a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.
Challenges for the ruling party
Observers believe that the election taking place in a short preparation period narrows the chances for the PPP to improve the situation. This party no longer holds a majority in parliament; at the same time, it is also more or less affected by the upheavals caused by the party member, former President Yoon.
On the PPP side, there have been a number of candidates announcing their candidacy, including Mr. Kim Moon-so, MP Ahn Cheol-so, Mayor of Ho Chi Minh City. Incheon Yoo Jeong-bok and North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo. Most recently, Han Dong-hoon, a former PPP leader, also announced his candidacy as a candidate for the ruling party yesterday.
Mr. Han said that he is the person that opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung will be most worried about. "We have to pick someone who can win. I will work with the people to bring home a decisive victory," Han was quoted as saying by The Korea Herald. Han pushed for constitutional reforms, including changing the presidential term from five years to four years and granting him the right to run for re-election. In addition, he proposed the creation of a senate, changes to some election regulations, and proposed holding elections for the president and parliament at the same time.
Some other PPP candidates, including the Mayor of Ho Chi Minh City. Seoul Oh Se-hoon, is expected to announce his candidacy in the next few days. According to Yonhap, PPP spokesman Ho Jun-seok said on April 9 that the party confirmed that it would hold a congress on May 3 to select the final candidate to run. Previously, the PPP will also hold primary elections to shorten the list of candidates, based on the results of public opinion polls.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper