South Korea: Lee Jae-myung, big winner of the legislative elections with a career strewn with scandals

Big winner of Wednesday's legislative elections in South Korea, Lee Jae-myung is one of the most controversial politicians in the country, with a marked career path. by numerous scandals and an assassination attempt.

This 59-year-old son of a worker, beaten by a hair in the 2022 presidential election by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, can enjoy his revenge. He is now poised to dominate South Korean politics for the next few years, and well placed to try his luck again at the highest office, as everyone believes he intends to do.

His triumph in the legislative elections “will give Lee a great boost in his quest for the presidency in 2027”, opines Bae Kang-hun, a political consultant.

Lee Jae-myung came close to death in January, after being stabbed in the neck in a street in Busan (South) by an individual who posed as one of his supporters. Quickly recovered, he entered into a virulent campaign against President Yoon Suk Yeol whom he swore to “punish” for his first two years in power.

“Tomorrow is a day of judgment. Tomorrow is the day we will affirm that this nation belongs to the people,” he declared Tuesday during his last rally on the eve of the vote.

< p>Born in 1964 in Andong, in eastern South Korea, Lee Jae-myung came from a very modest background. At the age of 11, due to lack of money to enter secondary school, he had to start working in a glove factory. Until a work accident left him partially disabled at the age of 13.

Later, he resumed studies, eventually becoming a lawyer specialist in the defense of human rights.

“My parents were housekeepers. I escaped poverty, but many around me are still stuck in it… I want to change the system,” he explained to AFP before the 2022 presidential election.

– Universal income –

< p>Entering politics in 2010, he campaigned against inequalities, finding more and more resonance in a country faced with soaring housing prices and a high rate of youth unemployment.

Former mayor of Seongnam, on the outskirts of Seoul, and former governor of Gyeonggi province, the most populous in the country, he distinguished himself by making maternity care and school uniforms free. In 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, he created the country's first aid fund and directly distributed cash to his constituents.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on April 9, 2024 during a final campaign rally in Seoul © AFP – Jung Yeon-je

He wants to establish a universal basic income throughout the country. But his detractors accuse him of being a populist who, with these measures, will put future generations in debt.

Lee Jae-myung's career has not been spared by scandals, and the opposition leader is the subject of a large number of investigations, notably for breach of trust and corruption.

In September 2023, the National Assembly lifted his parliamentary immunity in a case linked to an alleged circumvention of sanctions against North Korea. The prosecution had requested, without success, placement in pre-trial detention.

Mr. Lee, who denies any wrongdoing, began a hunger strike at the end of August to denounce what he considers to be authoritarian practices of the Yoon government. He was hospitalized after 19 days.

His career as a former child worker stands out in South Korea, where the overwhelming majority of political leaders come from the highest classes social, with rich networks of influence.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on April 9, 2024 during a final campaign rally in Seoul © AFP – Jung Yeon-je

A particularity which Mr. Lee did not hesitate to play, particularly against Mr. Yoon, from the upper middle class. In 2021, his campaign team released two photos to illustrate the contrast with his opponent: one showed a young Lee with flowing hair in an ill-fitting suit and the other a teenage Yoon in a bow tie.

“You can pity people who are shivering outside in the cold while sitting in your heated living room,” Mr. Lee told AFP in early 2022. “But you will never be able to truly understand their suffering.”

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