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The election is a big step toward stabilizing the country. But daunting challenges at home and from abroad await the new leader.
June 2, 2025, 5:00 p.m. ET
South Koreans headed to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president after months of political turmoil. But whoever wins faces daunting challenges, including trying to fix a sputtering domestic economy and navigating tensions between its ally the United States and China.
The campaign has pitted Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the centrist Democratic Party, against Kim Moon-soo, who represents the conservative People Power Party. Pre-election surveys showed that Mr. Lee would be more likely to win.
Mr. Lee has pledged to heal his deeply polarized country and boost its economy. He has also championed more balanced diplomacy, promising to mend his country’s strained relations with China and North Korea while maintaining the alliance with the United States as the bedrock of national security. If Mr. Kim wins, he would likely continue the conservative foreign policy of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, which focused on strengthening ties with Washington and Tokyo at the cost of antagonizing Pyongyang and Beijing.
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The voting started across South Korea at 6 a.m. and will end at 8 p.m. The results of a joint exit poll by the country’s three main broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS will be released soon after the polls close. Enough of the votes will have been counted by early Wednesday for the nation to learn who has won, polling experts said.
South Korea’s political turmoil began when Mr. Yoon, unpopular throughout his three years in office, tried to seize the opposition-controlled National Assembly by military force during his short-lived imposition of martial law in December. He was later impeached by the Assembly and in April was formally expelled from office by the Constitutional Court, opening the way for Tuesday’s election.
