Lee Jae-myung leads with 38% support in the South Korean presidential race

Front-runner Rep. Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea has increased his lead among the field of potential presidential candidates, shows a poll released Friday.

According to a survey by Gallup Korea, Lee garnered 38 % support — his highest rating this year and a figure that puts him comfortably ahead of all other contenders.

Tied for second place were former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and former Labour Minister Kim Moon-soo, both from the conservative People Power Party, along with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is currently serving as Korea's acting president. The three each received 7 % support.

While Hong and Kim are currently running in the PPP’s primary, Han, who is not a member of the party but was appointed prime minister by ousted ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is, has yet to clarify whether or not he would run for president.

Former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, also of the PPP, came in third with 6 %. Minor conservative Reform Party presidential candidate Lee Jun-seok took 2 %. Twenty-six per cent of respondents said they had no preferred candidate or were undecided.

Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon Suk Yeol by just 0.73 percentage points in the last election despite securing 47.83 % of the vote, has consistently led in preference polls, but this latest figure marks a new high for him, Gallup Korea said.

South Korea is to hold an early presidential election on June 3, following Yoon's impeachment and removal for violating the law and democratic principles by declaring martial law in the country. The major political parties are each expected to finalise their standard bearer in the coming weeks.

Gallup's weekly survey, conducted April 15-17 of 1,000 adults nationwide, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 % confidence level. Full results are available on the National Election Commission’s website.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

Photo by Reuters