How a former factory worker was promoted to South Korea's presidency

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South Korea Seongnam- South Korea's president-elect Lee Jae-Myung has always described his politics as a profound individual, born out of his “poor” in his youth.

In the last presidential election three years ago, his conservative party was Yoon Suk YeolLee, a former prosecutor, called for the rule of law, told a story from childhood how his family’s poverty pushed him to the assembly line of the factory when his peers entered middle school—and how his mother held his hand every morning, holding his hand.

He said in March 2022: “Behind every policy I implement is my own poverty and depression life, daily struggles, daily struggles for ordinary Koreans.” The reason I am politically today is because I want to create a world of hope for those who are still suffering from the same poverty and despair…I managed to escape. ”

Lee Jae-Myung of the Prospect Center rally in December 2024 with then-President Yoon Suk Yeol in the National Assembly in Seoul.

(Ahn Young-Joon/AP)

Although Lee lost 0.73 games in one percentage point (or 247,077 votes), Yoon laid the foundation for Lee's comeback. The term of impeachment was half because he announced Martial law In December, the former president is currently on trial for the uprising.

Liberal Lee appeared in the interim presidential election Tuesday, with three major South Korean TV broadcasters calling the game a match before midnight here.

Lee takes his running framework as his mission during the campaign Restore democratic norms in the country. But he also returns to the theme of years from childhood longing for his iconic political brand: a commitment for its most vulnerable “thick safety mat” society, which is the path to getting rid of the puddle.

Born in December 1963, Lee is the fifth of seven siblings, growing up in Seongnam, a city near the southeastern edge of Seoul, when his family was known for being expelled from the capital's shantytown when his family settled there in 1976.

The family rented a half-large room at the local market, and his father made a living by cleaning staff. Sometimes his family lives on discarded fruits along the route. Lee's mother works as a bathroom waiter around the corner.

Lee jumped from one factory to another as a teenager to help. His first job was 13 years old, and he soldered 12 hours a day in a jewelry manufacturer, breathing irritating smoke. In another job, the owner skipped three months’ salary without paying Lee’s payment.

A few years later, while operating a newsplant at a baseball glove factory, Lee had an accident that permanently destroyed his left arm. Desperate, Lee tries to end his life. He survived because the pharmacist who went to take the sleeping pills caught his intention and gave him digestive medicine.

People walk through rows of banners on the street

Lee then started studying in middle school and high school at night after get off work. He was proven to be a talented student who won all study law for Zhong Chang University.

After passing the Korean bar exam in 1986, he was moved by a speech by human rights lawyer Roh Moo-Hyun, who continued to serve as president in 2003, while Lee, 26, opened his own legal practice to do the same.

By then, Seongnam was growing rapidly, becoming the site of several projects, and Lee placed himself in local oversight activism.

Ha Dong-Geun, 73, organized in the city with Lee for a decade, recalling the day they encountered: the latter wore a huge expression of urgency – “Like he didn't run right away, that bad things would happen.”

He added: “He is not afraid of what others think of him.”

Ha remembers Lee was a keen strategic idea, and his trick was to “find out the weaknesses of his opponents.” However, despite their noise, substantial changes are difficult to achieve, leading to Lee's political awakening in 2004.

Two of the city's large hospitals were closed a year ago, threatening the access to emergency services in the poorest communities. But while Lee's campaign has collected nearly 20,000 signatures from residents to build a public hospital, the proposal was rejected by the city council almost immediately.

“People in power don't care about people's health and lives,” Lee wrote in his 2021 response. “If they don't, let's do it ourselves. I'll be the mayor and do it with my own hands.”

A man with dark hair and glasses lying on the ground with his eyes closed and his hands on his neck

Lee served as mayor of Seongnam from 2010 to 2018. During this period, his predecessor paid more than $400 million in municipal debt. He moved his office from the ninth floor to the second floor, often appearing in person on-site issues or citizens’ complaints.

But he is known for his welfare policies, despite strong opposition from the conservative central government at the time: free school lunches, free school uniforms for middle schools, and financial support for new mothers seeking postpartum care. For all 24-year-old citizens, the city also provides approximately $720 in annual basic income in cash vouchers, which can be used by local businesses.

In 2016, when a high school student’s plight could not afford a sanitary pad using shoe insoles, it made headlines across the country, the city also added a program that provided poor teenage girls’ cash for women’s hygiene products. A few years later, Lee also made a good promise to his campaign commitment, which was to build a public hospital that first promoted him to politics.

“My personal experience has made me realize how cruel the world is for those who have nothing to do,” he said in 2021.

Although it has been several years since Lee left the city to become governor of Gongjiji Province and held his third presidential campaign, his trail still inspired intense loyalty in Seongnam's working-class community, where Lee is remembered as the one who cared for small things.

“His openness and willingness to communicate resonated with a lot of people,” said Kim Seung-Man, 67, a shop owner at Sangdaewon Market, who made a living in the 1970s. “The working class people identified with him because his childhood was so difficult.”

A man raises his fist while talking while holding a red sign, a group of people also holds a sign in the street

While the Seongnam Citizens Medical Center (opened in 2020) is in the deep red and has become the target of Lee's critics who dismissed his welfare policy because cheap populism is cheap populism, King said it is a lifeline to this working-class community.

“It’s a treatment center for shared patients during the pandemic,” he said. “Serving public goods means doing so, whether it’s profitable or not.”

Besides Seongnam's working-class community, Lee has aroused many equally strong disgust, a fact that cannot be explained by its policies.

Some attribute it to his cruelty, sometimes confrontational manners, while others attribute it to classist bias. Lee points out his position as an “outsider” in the Korean institutional political world, where the path of the most ambitious young politician follows the script he avoids: Being consistent behind the party's heavyweight party, the party will open the door for favorable legislative seats.

“I have never been under-grateful to anyone during politics,” Lee said in a press conference last month.

He was attacked within his party, with conservatives treating him as a tyrant and criminal and accusing him of accusing him in legal cases. Former President Yoon cited the “legislative tyranny” of the liberal opposition led by Lee as a reason for the declaration of martial law in December.

“The controversy over character or ethics remains controversial,” said Cho Jin-Man, a political scientist at Dukeson Women’s University. “He doesn’t have a clean image of squeaking.”

Since losing the 2022 election, Lee has faced numerous charges, including violations of election laws and misconduct as mayor Seongnam's real estate development project – Lee was indicted by Yoon and his allies as a politically motivated attack.

A dark-haired man wearing glasses, dark suit and tie talking before a microphone

There are few allegations against Lee. Others, such as an election law provision, prohibit candidates from lying during the campaign, a technique that is often abused and, if consistently implemented, few politicians are present.

“Instead, these only lead to people thinking there is something wrong with the prosecution service,” Joe said.

In recent months, Lee has tried to smooth out the rough edges of public roles, vowing to repair the country's increasingly ignited guerrilla rift.

Last year, after he survived his assassination attempt, the attacker’s sword had a major vein engraved around his neck, Lee condemned the country’s rooted “politics of hatred” and called for a new era of mutual respect and coexistence.

Lee billed his welfare agenda in recent campaigns, which included a commitment to better labor protection and more public housing and public health care, rather than class wars, but as class wars, reflecting his efforts to win moderate conservatives.

However, there are still questions about whether Lee (his political party) who now controls the executive and legislative departments will succeed.

“He now has a clear path to push what he wants very effectively,” Cho said. “But the nature of power makes it not necessarily exercise restraint for those who hold it.”

Although Lee has promised not to seek retribution for his political enemy as president, he also made it clear that those who robbed illegal powers in cooperation with former President Yoon will be held liable – a move that will inevitably incite Partisan Discord.

His working-class background has not yet evaded criticism from labor activists, who say his proposal to raise the domestic semiconductor industry will withdraw its workers’ rights.

This background will also be the first and most pressing agenda item for Lee: Dealing with President Trump, whose tariffs on South Korea's automobiles, steel, steel and aluminum will go into full force in July.

“I don't think Lee and Trump have a good chemistry,” Joe said.

“They both have such a strong personality, but they are so different in terms of political ideology and personal growth.”

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