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Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, and Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party make their first official campaign stops of the election cycle on May 12, 2025. (Kim Gyoung-ho/Hankyoreh; Yoon Woon-sik/Hankyoreh; courtesy of the Reform Party)

Candidates for Korea’s June 3 snap presidential election officially hit the campaign trail on Monday. The seven candidates who have registered their presidential bids, including Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, and Kwon Young-gook of the Democratic Labor Party, will spend the next three weeks crisscrossing the country, meeting voters and making their cases for why they should be Korea’s next leader.

Lee Jae-myung, the undisputed frontrunner, launched his campaign with a rally in central Seoul, where he called for the “end of the insurrection, the recovery of the public livelihood, and national unity.” 

The PPP’s Kim Moon-soo kicked off his campaign at Seoul’s Garak Market in the early hours of Monday, running on pledges to be a “market president, a president for the public livelihood, and a president for the economy,” but had already deteriorated into mudslinging and ideological attacks against Lee before the first 24 hours of campaigning were over.

During his first rally at Seoul’s Cheonggye Plaza on Monday morning, Lee said, “It is especially meaningful to me that I make my first campaign stop here, where the revolution of light began.” 

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, stumps in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on May 12, 2025. (pool photo)

Lee pledged to reflect the passion and determination of Koreans who brought about the “revolution of light” — a coinage used to refer to the mass protests featuring colorful K-pop light sticks that helped foil an insurrection — in his campaign and in his presidency. 

“I go into this election not only as the Democratic Party candidate but as the candidate representing the people who seek the end of the insurrection, those who want to overcome the crisis, and those who seek happiness. I will decisively lead the way to national unity, which will be my top priority,” he said. 
 
Lee also touched on his two key slogans of fighting for livelihoods and ensuring a country in which everyone can “live well.”

“The country we dream of is not the country we had before the insurrection. It’s an era of a new civilization, where we become a global standard, where we go from making a living to living well. The real Republic of Korea that leads the world. That’s the country we will make,” he declared.

After the kickoff rally in Gwanghwamun, Lee held back-to-back rallies in Pangyo and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province, and the cutting-edge industry and science research belt in Daejeon’s Daedeok District.  

At his first campaign stop at Garak Market, Moon told merchants, “If Garak Market isn’t doing well, Korea isn’t doing well. I will take responsibility and ensure that business picks up.”

Kim Moon-soo, the PPP nominee for president, speaks before his party’s campaign headquarters on May 12, 2025. (pool photo)

On Monday afternoon, Kim held a rally in Daegu’s Seomun Market, where he said, “If I become president, all markets across the country will thrive. I will become the market president.” 

“I will become the people’s president who will bring abundance and warmth to the people,” he said.

Reporters on the scene asked Kim about the incident where he was nearly replaced by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in the process of forming a unity ticket. 

“They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It was all part of the process to strengthen unity, to reach new heights,” he said. 

Yet Kim’s extreme conservative streak didn’t take long to show itself. During a meeting of the PPP election headquarters at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, Kim called the Democratic Party a “fake progressive party” that “only allows Kim Jong-un to be free while the people are suppressed.” 

During his rally in Daegu that evening, Kim said, “The dictatorship of the National Assembly, a dictatorship which issues dozens of impeachments, has the press wrapped around its fingers, and interferes with trials. You, the people, can defeat such a dictatorship.” 

Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok began his campaign early Monday morning by visiting a national industrial complex in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. 

“I will reflect on methods to revive the country’s second industrial complex, which led the exports and growth of this country, and present my solutions,” Lee said. 

That afternoon, Lee visited Yonsei University in Seoul’s Seodaemun District, where he met with students and ate lunch with them. In the evening, he moved to Cheonggye Plaza in Seoul for a rally. 

Kwon Young-gook of the Democratic Labor Party, formerly known as the Justice Party, a progressive party which currently holds no seats in the National Assembly, began his campaign early Monday morning by meeting with labor activists camped out in front of the Sejong Hotel and the Hanwha Group headquarters in Seoul’s Jung District. 

After a morning rally at the Guro Digital Complex in Seoul, Kwon headed to a labor conference and a policy discussion for women voters. He then held a rally in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. 

By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter; Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter; Goh Gyoung-ju, staff reporter

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