Lee Jae-myung, elected as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, delivers his acceptance speech at the “Metropolitan Area, Gangwon, and Jeju Primary and Final Candidate Nomination Convention for the 21st Presidential Election,” held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on April 27. His face can be seen through a sea of cheering supporters waving light sticks. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Lee Jae-myung’s story begins not in a seat of power, but on a factory floor. As a boy in Seongnam, he inhaled toxic fumes while laboring in industrial plants, lost his sense of smell, and suffered a permanent arm injury — all to help his family scrape by.
Now, with just 37 days until South Korea’s pivotal June 3 presidential election, Lee stands on the cusp of the nation’s highest office, formally elected Sunday as the Democratic Party’s (DP) presidential candidate.
The stakes could not be higher. Lee’s return to the political spotlight comes amid a country fiercely divided by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law — a move that has reshaped the nation’s political landscape. This time, unlike his razor-thin loss in the 2022 election by just 0.73 percentage point, Lee holds a commanding lead in opinion polls.
Lee’s political authority within the DP has only solidified since then. He livestreamed his leading role in the National Assembly’s vote to reject Yoon’s martial law declaration, reinforcing his image as both a fighter and a survivor.
But as the campaign intensifies, Lee is working to soften his sharp-edged reputation. Known for his outspoken and sometimes combative style in public administration, he now favors beige sweaters over formal suits and speaks in a more relaxed tone, recasting himself as a pragmatic, steady hand focused squarely on economic growth.
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s candidate for the June 3, 2025, presidential election, is seen as a young boy working at a factory manufacturing baseball gloves in 1978, in this file photo provided by his camp on Oct. 10, 2021. (Yonhap)
A Childhood of Survival
Born into poverty in Andong in 1964, Lee’s early life was shaped by deprivation. His mother cleaned toilets and sold paper goods at markets to support the family after their move to Seongnam. Lee worked factory jobs from the age of 12, often scavenging for discarded, rotting fruit to stave off hunger.
Those grueling experiences — which he later described as “horrific” in his memoir — became a crucible of resilience. Against the odds, Lee passed qualification exams for high school and college while working during the day, eventually earning a law degree from Chung-Ang University on scholarship. He passed the bar exam in 1986 and began his career as a human rights lawyer, inspired by the late President Roh Moo-hyun.
In this file photo, taken Feb. 8, 2017, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, shows his left arm that was permanently injured in a factory incident when he was a boy during a press conference in Seoul. (Yonhap)
The Ascent Through Relentless Will
Lee’s path into politics was anything but smooth. He lost his first bid for mayor of Seongnam in 2006 and again fell short in a National Assembly race two years later. But in 2010, he broke through, winning the Seongnam mayoral election, and was re-elected in 2014.
As mayor, Lee pioneered progressive welfare initiatives — universal basic income for youth, free school uniforms, and postnatal care — earning him a loyal following. His sharp, no-nonsense remarks, known colloquially as “cider comments” for their refreshing bluntness, made him a national figure during the 2016 political scandal that toppled President Park Geun-hye.
He sought the DP’s nomination for the 2017 presidential election but lost to Moon Jae-in. Undeterred, he became the first liberal governor of Gyeonggi Province in 16 years in 2018, rolling out signature policies like basic income and basic housing.
In 2021, Lee finally captured the DP presidential nomination, but his 2022 campaign was marred by allegations tied to a controversial land development scandal. Despite the swirling controversy, he lost to Yoon Suk Yeol by the narrowest margin in South Korean history.
This file photo shows Lee Jae-myung, then leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, on the ground after he was stabbed by an assailant on the left side of his neck during a visit to the construction site of an airport on Gadeok Island, located in the southeastern port city of Busan, on Jan. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
Tested Again, and Rising
Lee had little time to mourn his defeat. In June 2022, he secured a National Assembly seat in Incheon’s Gyeyang-B district and, two months later, was elected DP leader, even as investigations into his past dealings mounted.
In 2023, he staged a hunger strike protesting the Yoon government’s policies, only to face an arrest warrant for alleged bribery and breach of trust. A National Assembly vote, including dissension from within his own party, nearly paved the way for his detention. But a court dismissed the warrant, handing Lee a critical survival.
Then came January 2024. While visiting a construction site in Busan, Lee was stabbed in the neck. The near-fatal attack shocked the nation and, paradoxically, fortified his political standing. In April 2024, under his leadership, the DP won a landslide victory in the general election.
Lee soon helped orchestrate the passage of a bill to repeal Yoon’s imposition of martial law — an act that triggered Yoon’s downfall and the call for a new presidential election.
Today, Lee leads national opinion polls by a wide margin and appears poised for a historic comeback — a narrative arc almost unimaginable for a man who once survived by scavenging discarded fruit.
Lee, now 60, lives with his wife, Kim Hye-kyung, a trained pianist, and their two sons. His journey from child laborer to presidential frontrunner is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and an unwavering instinct to fight for survival — qualities that may soon define South Korea’s next chapter.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
