TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - South Koreans cast their votes on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, to elect a new president, aiming to move past the political upheaval triggered by a six-month military emergency under former president Yoon Suk Yeol. The crisis has dealt a serious blow to South Korea’s image as a thriving democracy.
According to Channel NewsAsia, voter turnout was projected to be high, with polling stations open from 06:00 AM to 08:00 PM. This followed a strong early voting period in which more than one-third of the country’s 44.39 million eligible voters had already participated.
By 11:00 AM local time, 8.1 million people, or over 18 percent of the voters, had voted at 14,295 polling stations nationwide, according to the National Election Commission.
Leading contenders Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo both voted during early polling last week. On Tuesday, Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife appeared at a school near their private residence to vote. The couple appeared at ease but did not respond to media questions as they left the station.
The next president will inherit the task of rebuilding trust with a deeply divided society and managing an export-dependent economy strained by shifting U.S. protectionist policies—challenges that have intensified during the political unrest.
Both major candidates wrapped up their three-week campaigns on Monday night with rallies across the country before converging in Seoul for final appeals to voters. Each pledged to steer South Korea beyond the recent instability and revitalize the sluggish economy.
Lee Jae-myung, from the liberal Democratic Party, and his conservative opponent Kim Moon-soo both argued that South Korea’s political and economic frameworks, forged during its democratic and industrial rise, are now outdated and in need of reform.
While their proposals for boosting innovation and technology often overlap, Lee has emphasized social equity and increased support for low- and middle-income families. In contrast, Kim has championed deregulation and reducing labor conflicts to empower businesses.
Yet, much of the campaign was overshadowed by the fallout from Yoon’s failed military emergency. His actions loomed heavily over the election narrative.
Lee characterized the vote as a "day of judgment" for Kim and the People Power Party, accusing them of complicity in the military emergency by failing to oppose it forcefully and attempting to preserve Yoon’s authority.
Kim, who served as labor minister when Yoon imposed the emergency on December 3, fired back by branding Lee a "dictator" and calling his Democratic Party a "monster." He warned that Lee’s presidency could lead to unchecked legal changes.
"Polarized"
Voters in Seoul stressed the urgent need for national healing and effective leadership amid the aftermath of the crisis.
"The economy has gotten so much worse since Dec 3, not just for me but I hear that from everybody," said 81-year-old Kim Kwang-ma. "And we as a people have become so polarised ... and I wish we could come together so that Korea can develop again."
Lee entered election day as the frontrunner, leading Kim by 14 percentage points with 49 percent support in a Gallup Korea poll released a week prior. Kim had narrowed the gap since the campaign began on May 12.
Exit polls conducted by three major broadcasters will be published once voting closes at 8:00 p.m. Ballots will be sorted and machine-counted, followed by three rounds of manual verification by election officials to ensure accuracy.
It remains uncertain when a final result will be announced. In 2022, Lee conceded defeat to Yoon at around 03:00 AM. the day after one of the closest elections in the nation's history, decided by less than one percentage point.
The National Election Commission is expected to certify the results on Wednesday, June 4. The winner will be inaugurated shortly thereafter, as the presidency has remained vacant since Yoon’s impeachment by parliament and removal by the Constitutional Court on April 4.
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