<W commentary> Lee Jae-myung, who lost in the South Korean presidential election, became the leader of the opposition party = Will the rise of “anti-Japan hardliners” affect the Yoon administration's

South Korea's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPD), elected Lee Jae-myung as party leader at its convention on the 28th. Lee was narrowly defeated by President Yoon Seo-gyeol in the March presidential election. Looking ahead to the 2027 presidential election, he is expected to strengthen his confrontational stance with the Yoon administration. As the Yoon administration shows its willingness to improve relations between Japan and South Korea, attention will be paid to the future movements of Lee, who is known as a "hardliner against Japan."

Lee is a former member of Andong County (now Andong City) in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province in the southeastern part of the country. Raised in a poor family, after graduating from elementary school, he worked as a boy worker while passing the official examinations and obtaining qualifications for junior high and high school graduation. After graduating from Chung-Ang University in 1986, he became a lawyer. After that, he served as the mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, a suburb of Seoul, from July 1st, 2007 to March 15th, 2018, and then served as governor of Gyeonggi-do from July 2018 to October 25th, 2018. He ran for the presidency in March this year and fought fiercely with Yoon until the very end, but was defeated by a narrow margin of about 240,000 votes.

He ran for national politics in the 2008 general election, but was unsuccessful. Until then, he had never been a member of the Diet, but he was elected in the by-election in June and was able to wear a parliamentary badge.

The media often refer to Lee as the "Korean Trump" because of his extreme resemblance to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Last month, he announced that he would run for the leadership of his party, the Democratic Party of Japan. "I want to change the Democratic Party, change politics, and change the world," Lee said at a news conference about his candidacy. "The starting point is to build a winnable MDP. We will definitely win the next general election. If we fail in our mission to build a winnable MDP, Lee Jae-myung's current role will end," he said. There were no other notable opponents in the party presidential election, and from the outset, Lee's election was viewed as a likely candidate. Party representative elections are conducted by tallying the results of party members, delegates, and public opinion polls nationwide. As a result, he overwhelmed the other candidates with 77.77% of the support, the highest in the party's history, and won. The term of office is two years.

Lee, who was elected party leader, declared that he would devote himself wholeheartedly to creating a completely new Democratic Party. "Today will be recorded as the day we started our victorious march to the general election two years from now and the presidential election five years from now," he said.

With Lee elected as the leader of the largest opposition party, it is expected that he will take a more confrontational stance with President Yoon, who was once a fierce opponent in the presidential election. When he was running for party chairman, Lee severely criticized the Yoon administration, calling it "incompetence, irresponsibility, and apathy".

In a radio program he appeared on the 9th of this month, he said, "If I become the leader of the party, I must propose a top-level meeting with the president and have it without fail." On top of that, he added, "The two main roles of the opposition party are cooperation and restraint. The Yoon administration is in a situation of extreme progress and retreat, so it is necessary to convey the voice of the people. We need to think about ways to overcome and deal with diplomatic problems by matching our prices,” he said, expressing his willingness to meet with Yoon.

The fact that Lee, who is a hardliner against Japan, has become the leader of the party, may affect Japan-South Korea relations. Regarding the issue of former forced laborers, which is the biggest pending issue between Japan and South Korea, Lee criticized the Yun administration's submission of a written opinion to the Supreme Court that it was continuing diplomatic efforts in connection with the lawsuit against former forced laborers. . "The restoration of the rights of the victims has been delayed, and the government should withdraw its unreasonable interference in the judiciary," he said. As the Yoon administration searched for a solution, it became more difficult to gain the understanding of the Democratic Party of Japan, which holds 60% of the seats in the National Assembly.

Lee is suspected of urban development in Seongnam City, where he served as mayor, and his wife is suspected of misappropriating a credit card for public business in Gyeonggi Province when he was governor of Gyeonggi Province. Investigations are underway, and these allegations may hinder efforts to strengthen the offensive in the future.