Overview

• Lee Jae-Myung secured 50% of the vote on June 3, winning over 17 million ballots and handily defeating conservative rival Kim Moon-soo.
• At his first cabinet meeting on June 5, Lee’s administration approved a 30 trillion-won emergency stimulus package to boost economic growth and calm public unease.
• The Democratic Party’s near two-thirds majority in the National Assembly prompted a bill to expand Supreme Court seats from 14 to as many as 30, raising concerns about stacking the judiciary.
• Deep gender splits shaped the election, with women holding just 20% of assembly seats despite large protests against last year’s martial law declaration.
• The opposition People Power Party remains fractured over former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, leaving it ill-equipped to check the new administration.