Since the brief declaration of martial law on December 3, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung has led the opposition’s response to the president’s attempted coup. This controversial figure on the South Korean political scene is the overwhelming favorite for an early presidential election, but he could be overtaken by his legal troubles.
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It is difficult to find a more marked opposition than that which separates the president Yoon Suk-yeol of his great opponent, Lee Jae-myung. Two men, symbols of structural inequalities within South Korean society. One is the son of a renowned academic, who completed a brilliant education at the best university in the country before becoming a prosecutor and then President of the Republic.
A pure product of social reproduction and a reverse mirror journey with that of Lee Jae-myung. When Yoon Suk-yeol, standing in front of his desk, declared martial law, the man who hopes to replace him called on his supporters to demonstrate in front of the assembly before filming himself live climbing the gates of Parliament.
A worker named Lee Jae-myung
The leader of the democratic opposition was born in a small town in 1963 into an extremely poor family and in a Korea that was just as poor. Far from being the industrial and cultural power of today, the country, still ravaged by war, is struggling to recover its economy. Lee Jae-myung, like many, does not go to college, but works in the factory. A difficult childhood which he partly transformed into a political identity and which had a profound impact on his ideals.
“ Without universal income, the capitalist market will no longer be able to function “, he declared during a meeting with RFI in 2020. At the time, the governor of Gyeonggi province, which surrounds the capital, refused to assume his presidential ambitions, but detailed his program: ” We have too much supply and our demand cannot absorb it. We must recover a certain percentage of the profits of the conglomerates and redistribute them “.
An apparently revolutionary speech in South Koreabut which finds a certain echo during the 2022 presidential election. During the campaign, he seeks to appear clear and presentable. Despite certain populist overtones, he seeks to contrast with the erratic and uncontrolled outings of his opponent. Lee falls just short of Yoon Suk-yeol’s 250,000-vote victory.
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Race against time between his legal troubles and an anticipated presidential election
Despite a litany of cases – for corruption, embezzlement, illegal transfer of funds to North Korea or even for breaking electoral law – he manages to remain at the head of the opposition, the majority in Parliament. His personal legend took on another dimension in January 2024. An opponent stabbed him in the carotid artery in Busan, the large city in the south of the country.
Lee Jae-myung and his political party, the Democratic Party, are riding the unpopularity of President Yoon Suk-yeol to achieve a very clear victory in the spring legislative elections. A success which places him in a position of strength for the 2027 presidential election, until a thunderclap. In November, he was convicted of lying during a corruption investigation. His sentence to one year in prison, accompanied by a sentence of automatic ineligibility, puts a blow to his ambitions. He appealed and his fate is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. The opportunist Lee Jae-myung has therefore launched a race against time for the presidency: Yoon Suk-yeol’s attempted coup on December 3 is therefore an opportunity not to be missed.
Shortly after the president’s speech declaring martial law, the democrat filmed himself live, invited his supporters to gather in front of Parliament and attempted to organize the vote to overturn the presidential decision. He is still live when he climbs the gates of the Assembly to support his troops. Lee understood perfectly that in the event of impeachment, he becomes the overwhelming favorite. But for this, the election must take place before the decision of the judges of the Supreme Court who could block his clear path to the Presidency. The sequence boosted his popularity. And 52% of South Koreans believe that he is the best candidate to become head of state – compared to just under 10% for the leader of the Conservative Party -, according to the South Korean polling institute Media Research.
Populist positions
If Lee Jae-myung benefits so much from this sequence, it is also because Yoon’s attempted coup seems directly inspired by the period of the dictatorship, during which Lee Jae-myung forged his political identity. In parallel with his work at the factory, he resumed his studies and managed to enter university in 1980. The year General Chun Doo-hwan came to power and bloodily repressed pro-democracy movements. in which young Lee participates. On campus, he joined the opposition to authoritarian movements before launching himself as a lawyer. Like other democratic leaders before him, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in, he specialized in human rights and workers’ rights before permanently joining the Democratic Party.
Mayor of the small town of Seongnam in the suburbs of Seoul, he rose through the ranks while dividing his camp. His populist positions, notably praising the economic record of dictators Park and Chun, contrast with those of the very cautious Moon Jae-in, particularly on economic issues. During the pandemic, the governor of Gyeonggi province made an openly xenophobic decision when, for example, he ordered the testing of all foreign workers in the region, after the detection of several cases of Covid-19. If Lee Jae-myung comes to power, South Korea would have to make a complete break with Yoon Suk-yeol’s policies. On economic issues, but also diplomatic ones. True to his party’s position, he advocates a measured approach between China and the United States.
On the other hand, the democrat is particularly open to discussion with the North Korea. But on many issues, its positions remain vague and may have evolved significantly, such as relations with Russia. He refuses any possibility of direct military aid to Ukraine, pleading for maintaining economic relations with Moscow. Ditto on gender issues, at the heart of the debates during the 2022 presidential election. A supporter of the vote for an anti-discrimination law, he opposed Yoon Suk-yeol’s anti-feminist campaign relatively late. But before resolving these debates, the worker who has become presidential must avoid finding himself behind bars.
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