Stabbing survivor Lee Jae-myung on path to become South Korea's president

Business Standard

04-06-2025

Lee Jae-myung, the tenacious left-leaning maverick who became South Korea's new president on Wednesday, has spent a lifetime picking himself off the canvas to fight again.
Lying on a hospital bed in intensive care after an assailant stabbed him in the jugular in early 2024, Lee was battling for his life. For many politicians that might have been the right time to throw in the towel on a career of public service, but these are the moments of adversity that fire Lee up.
Much like Donald Trump, who also suffered an assassination attempt in 2024, Lee finds political capital and motivation in the setbacks and opposition he faces as he refuses thoughts of giving up.
'Since my life was saved by our people, I will dedicate the rest of it solely to serving them,' Lee said as he left hospital after eight days of hospitalisation following the attack in the port city of Busan. 'If we can restore politics based on respect and coexistence, I'll have no regrets even it that takes up the rest of my life.'
Lee's populist delivery has sometimes drawn parallels with the US president, but the South Korean's policies have in the past hewed much closer to the progressive values of Bernie Sanders.
But with momentum favouring him in the chaos that followed former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched attempt to impose martial law six months ago, Lee has inched ever closer to the political center. The shift underscores his determination to finally get across the finish line and become the nation's leader, following his razor-thin loss to the conservative Yoon three years ago.
Lee has shown he has the perseverance and commitment to try to unite the nation, restore growth to the sputtering economy and cut deals with Trump on US trade and troops. Still, his polarizing personality may be the one hurdle he can't overcome.
'He has proved to be a political survivor, after legal scandals, questionable opposition tactics, and even threats to his life,' said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. 'Yet his victory is not thanks to any particular policy proposals, but rather a result of Yoon's spectacular collapse.'
Lee won 49.4 per cent of the vote while the People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo secured 41.2 per cent, according to the final count released by the National Election Commission, a narrower margin than indicated by an earlier exit poll. Lee was sworn in as South Korea's 21st president on Wednesday.
The formation of a new government and declining policy uncertainties are positive for Korean dollar credits and the South Korean won, says Zerlina Zeng, head of Asia strategy & East Asia corporates at CreditSights.
In his latest run for the leadership job Lee positioned himself as a more flexible and mature leader capable of taking on the challenges of leading Asia's fourth-largest economy in an increasingly tense security environment. He has moved away from past demands for universal income and free universal healthcare, and from bristling comments about the US and Japan.
His government will still likely mean more public spending, stronger labor protections, and attempts to curb the power of South Korea's family-run conglomerates, but without pushing the needle as far as he might have aspired to do in the past. He also favors constitutional reform to enable two-term presidencies and the shutting down of the nation's coal-fired power stations.
On foreign policy, too, he has dialed back his rhetoric to indicate he will largely continue to build on trilateral relations with the US and Japan. But Lee still favors a more balanced approach to dealing with Washington and Beijing, and the possibility of opening a dialogue with Pyongyang.
'It's positive that Lee Jae-myung and his team are saying the trilateral is important,' said Yasuyo Sakata, a professor of international relations at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan. 'But the real test will be after he comes into power.'
At home, Lee will enjoy an easier time in the National Assembly than Yoon did, as the opposition Democratic Party he represents expanded its majority in parliamentary elections last year.
That means he will have more scope to push forward with policy. Legislative gridlock caused by the standoff between opposition forces in parliament and presidential vetoes was one of the motivations Yoon cited to justify his shock move to install martial law in December.
But Lee also faces potential legal jeopardy. Lee has been vexed by scandals in his personal life and multiple legal troubles surrounding accusations over aiding private land developers, misusing public funds and infringing election law in the past. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the legal proceedings against him politically motivated. While the cases may be put in limbo while he is in office, that point remains in doubt, with analysts speaking of a gray area.
The ongoing tensions are a common theme in a life that has been anything but straightforward.
Raised in poverty in a blue-collar family in Seongnam, about 20 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Lee started working at a necklace factory at around 12 years of age after graduating from elementary school. While he was working to help support his family he suffered an accident with the machinery that crushed his elbow, leaving his left arm twisted to this day.
That first key setback and the lack of a secondary education didn't deter him. Through self-study he managed to pass the bar exam and become a lawyer in his early 20s. After years as a labor activist he entered politics, beginning with rank-and-file roles within liberal parties.
Lee made his name as the mayor of Seongnam, a job he held from 2010 to 2018. During that time he increased funding for some public medical services, closed down a dog-slaughtering facility and piloted an early form of universal income for young people.
Before long he was thinking beyond the confines of Seongnam, as he stood unsuccessfully in the Democratic Party primaries for the presidential election in 2017. He then became governor of the Gyeonggi province surrounding Seoul, home to a population of 13.7 million and the location of major semiconductor plants for Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.
His stewardship of the province during the onslaught of Covid-19 was viewed favorably and helped pave the way for another run at the presidency. This time he won the candidacy of the Democratic Party, despite a platform that looked more radical than the policies of outgoing leader and rival Moon Jae-in. Lee wound up losing by less than 1 percent to Yoon in the 2022 election.
'It's still a mystery to me how Lee, who was mayor of a small city without experience of holding a parliamentary seat, managed to take control of the party so quickly,' said Park Sung-min, head of Seoul-based political advisory firm, Min Consulting.
People who have worked with Lee often describe him as a person with many flaws and weaknesses but also a smart person who makes practical decisions, according to a South Korean government official who declined to be named.
His straight-talking on social media and abrasive tactics have gained him enemies along the way, while levels of distrust have grown as court cases against him pile up.
Lee's populist tendencies mean he might surprise even his own party once in power, Kanda University's Sakata said, comparing him with Trump. 'No matter what the strategic planners think, it's up to the leader. So there's always a Trump-like risk.'
As opposition leader, Lee repeatedly tried to use his party's majority in parliament to ram through legislation opposed by Yoon, a tactic that made the president appear less and less in control of the country.
When he thought Yoon failed to protest sufficiently over Japan's release of wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant in 2023, Lee embarked on a hunger strike that would last more than three weeks. His opponents contend it was likely a way to distract attention from the legal cases against him and attempts to arrest him.
Those accusations appeared to catch up with him in November last year when a South Korean court convicted him of making false claims in 2021 while campaigning for the presidency. The ruling, if confirmed, would have stripped Lee of his parliamentary seat and barred him from running for public office for five years.
By appealing that and subsequent rulings, Lee managed to kick the can far enough down the road to stay in the game for now. Lee's case has since been postponed to sometime after the election.
Lee's key lifeline to power came rather unexpectedly when his arch rival Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, the first such decree in South Korea in about four decades. The sledgehammer move by Yoon backfired spectacularly by spooking markets and ushering in a long period of political instability that helped trigger a contraction in the economy.
Within hours of the declaration, Lee helped rally lawmakers to defy a security cordon around the National Assembly to vote down the decree. Ever the opportunist, Lee livestreamed himself scrambling over the barriers.
Every time Lee's political journey looks doomed to end, he survives and we've seen this time and again, said Min Consulting's Park.
'In those moments, it almost feels like he's getting divine intervention,' Park said.