Overview

• Early voting begins on May 30 with Lee leading Kim Moon-soo by 49.2% to 36.8%, reinforcing his front-runner status before the June 3 election.
• Lee said Korea-based US Forces Korea’s 28,500 troops play a “critical” role in US efforts to contain China.
• Seoul and the Pentagon both dismissed a Wall Street Journal report suggesting the withdrawal of 4,500 US troops, with officials reaffirming America’s defense commitment.
• He pledged “reasonable and rational” talks with Washington to secure full exemptions or reductions on 25% reciprocal tariffs and sectoral levies on steel, autos and other imports by early July.
• He lauded former President Trump’s engagement with North Korea as beneficial for peninsula peace and urged Japan to issue a more “fulsome” apology for its colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.