Kim Moon-soo concedes presidential race, congratulates Lee Jae-myung in early-morning remarks

SEOUL, June 04 (AJP) - People Power Party presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo acknowledged his projected defeat early Wednesday morning, offering congratulations to rival Lee Jae-myung and expressing gratitude to his supporters. Speaking around 1:30 a.m. on Jun. 4 at party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Kim appeared before reporters and campaign staff following a night of sobering exit poll results and early vote counts. His remarks came shortly after major broadcasters projected

June 4, 2025

Lee Jae-myung declares intent to lead as president in early morning address amid projected victory

SEOUL, June 04 (AJP) - Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung addressed supporters in the early hours of Wednesday, Jun. 4, delivering what sounded like a de facto victory speech, even as final vote counts in South Korea’s 21st presidential election were still underway. Speaking shortly after 1:15 a.m. in front of the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Lee acknowledged that he had not yet been officially confirmed as president-elect but said he felt a strong

June 4, 2025

Lee Jae-myung projected to win S. Korea's snap presidential election, signals end of conservative rule

SEOUL, June 04 (AJP) - Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party is projected to win South Korea’s 21st presidential election, setting the stage for a return to liberal leadership just three years after conservatives took office. The Jun. 3 snap election was triggered by the impeachment and removal of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law on December 3, 2024. Citing unspecified threats to national stability, Yoon ordered the military and police into emergency re

June 4, 2025

Conservative party officials in somber mood as exit polls show 12-point gap

SEOUL, June 3 (AJP) - South Korea's main opposition People Power Party officials watched in somber silence as exit polls showed their candidate trailing the ruling Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung by about 12.4 percentage points in Tuesday's presidential election. The party's election headquarters at the National Assembly Library fell into heavy silence when broadcasters announced the results at 8 p.m., immediately after voting concluded across the nation. Officia

June 3, 2025

Democratic Party celebrates as exit poll shows Lee Jae-myung ahead with more than 50%

SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - The Democratic Party broke into cheers Tuesday night after exit poll results showed its presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung taking over 50 percent of the vote, putting him more than 10 percentage points ahead of conservative rival Kim Moon-soo. At the vote monitoring room set up in the main conference hall of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building, campaign staff and senior party officials began trickling in just after 7 p.m., an hour before t

June 3, 2025

Lee Jae-myung advocates pragmatic diplomacy and balanced global engagement

SEOUL, June 3 (AJP) - Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, is projected to win South Korea’s snap presidential election held Tuesday, with exit polls showing him ahead with 51.7 percent of the vote. His conservative rival Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party follows with 39.3 percent, according to a joint exit poll survey by public broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS. At the center of Lee's diplomatic strategy is a push for pragmatic engageme

June 3, 2025

Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung projected to win S. Korea's presidential snap election

SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party is projected to win South Korea’s snap presidential election held Tuesday, with exit polls showing him ahead with 51.7 percent of the vote. His conservative rival Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party follows with 39.3 percent, according to a joint exit poll survey by public broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS. This marks South Korea’s first presidential snap election in eight years, following t

June 3, 2025

Turnout reaches record 65.5 percent by 2 p.m. in South Korea's presidential vote

SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - South Korea's snap presidential election drew an unprecedented level of voter participation by Tuesday afternoon, with turnout reaching 65.5 percent as of 2 p.m., according to the National Election Commission (NEC). It marks the highest voter turnout at this time of day in any presidential election in the country’s history. Of the 44.39 million eligible voters, more than 29 million had cast their ballots by 2 p.m. The figure includes those who vote

June 3, 2025

New president to emerge late night on Tuesday

SEOUL, June 2 (AJP) - Voting for the June 3 presidential election begins at 6 a.m. on Tuesday at some 14,300 polling stations nationwide. As ballot counting begins at 8 p.m., the country's new president is not expected to emerge until around 11 p.m. or midnight. As the snap election follows the premature ouster of former disgraced President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched martial law debacle late last year, polling hours have been extended by two hours from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., so &

June 2, 2025

Court weighs detention of subway arson suspect as probe continues

SEOUL, June 02 (AJP) - A man in his 60s accused of starting a fire on Seoul’s Line 5 subway on May 31 appeared in court Monday for a detention hearing, two days after the blaze disrupted Seoul’s subway train service and sent dozens to the hospital. The suspect, surnamed Won, was brought to the Seoul Southern District Court. The hearing, held to decide whether to formally detain him ahead of trial, lasted about 15 minutes. Won faces charges of setting fire to a train

June 2, 2025