| Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, left, and Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential hopeful of the main opposition People Power Party / Korea Times file |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Regardless of who eventually emerges victorious in the presidential election on Wednesday, the next president is expected to open a new chapter in Korea's political history.
The two front runners ― the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative main opposition People Power Party ― have been running neck and neck against each other in the latest surveys.
If the winner is elected among these two flag bearers of the rival parties, he would become the first democratically elected president in Korea's history with no legislative or cabinet experience. Since the country's first democratic presidential election which took place in 1987 to the last one conducted in 2017, all the winners have had experience in the National Assembly, where many of them had demonstrated their leadership as party floor leaders.
Yoon, 61, is a political rookie who just entered the political arena after declaring his presidential bid last June.
Lee, 57, is a veteran public administrator, having served as Seongnam City mayor from 2010 to 2018 and then governor of Gyeonggi Province ― Korea's most populated province ― from 2018 to 2021.
But like Yoon, he has no experience as a legislator.
As such, whether it will be Lee or Yoon, the next president's leadership could be put to the test on whether he would be able to shape relations with legislators of the opposition party.
In addition, if Lee achieves victory, he would break the jinx of former Gyeonggi Province governors' bids for the presidency, which in the past, have been unsuccessful.
Several previous Gyeonggi governors who had declared their bids for the presidency ― Lee Yin-jae, Sohn Hak-kyu, Kim Moon-soo and Nam Gyeong-pil ― have either failed to win their primary battle or presidential race.
Aware of this “jinx,” Lee said during a street campaign in Gyeonggi Province, “Some people say that the presidential election is a 'grave' for previous Gyeonggi governors. But for me, it will be a 'flower road.'” Flower road is a Korean expression often used to describe a prosperous future.
As for Yoon, if elected, he would become the country's first prosecutor-turned-president in history.
Yoon studied law in Seoul National University, the country's most prestigious university, and then became a prosecutor in 1994. He was promoted as prosecutor-general in June 2019 and served in the position until he resigned in March 2021.
Hong Joon-pyo, another prosecutor-turned-politician, lost to President Moon Jae-in in the 2017 presidential election. The five-term lawmaker suffered another bitter loss in the party primary against Yoon.
Several other politicians sharing Yoon's elite educational background, such as former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, former chief of the national audit agency Choi Jae-hyeong and ex-Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, have also lost in party primaries.