A young South Korean politician is keen to run for president: In this politically turbulent climate, will his call for ”generational change” resonate with voters?

Rep. Lee Jun-seok (39), who supported President Yoon Seok-yeol's election in the 2022 South Korean presidential election and is currently the leader of the opposition New Innovation Party, held a press conference on the 2nd of this month.
He also expressed his desire to run for president if Yoon were to be removed from office and a presidential election were to be held. Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly for declaring "emergency martial law" in December last year.
Currently, the Constitutional Court is holding an impeachment trial to determine whether Yoon should be removed from office. If impeachment is deemed appropriate, a presidential election will be held within 60 days. At the press conference, Lee said, "Conservatives and progressives are both important parties in the country."
"We are seeing a reality where the government has lost its original value and fallen into self-contradiction. It is time to put an end to this old era of politics," he said. According to the South Korean constitution, the person who can become president is 40 years of age or older.
Lee will be turning 40 at the end of March. Yoon declared "emergency martial law" late at night on December 3rd last year. Emergency martial law is a type of martial law stipulated in the South Korean Constitution and is used in times of war, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
Martial law is a state of emergency that can be declared by the president when necessary for military purposes or to maintain public order. It was the first time that martial law had been declared since the country's democratization in 1987.
However, if a majority of members of the National Assembly request the lifting of martial law, the President must comply with this request, and immediately after the declaration, a plenary session of the National Assembly is held and a vote is held.
All members voted for lifting the state of emergency. Yoon lifted it in just six hours. However, the declaration of state of emergency caused great political and social turmoil in South Korea, and opposition parties, including the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, rejected Yoon's proposal.
The government submitted a motion to impeach Yoon to the National Assembly, accusing him of violating the constitution by "attempting to suspend the constitutional order and committing an attempted civil war with a view to seizing permanent power." The motion was passed, and Yoon was suspended from his duties.
Yoon is currently undergoing an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, which has six months to decide whether to impeach or reinstate him. If he is impeached, a presidential election will be held within 60 days.
In the midst of this, Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the third-party party, the New Reform Party, held a press conference on the 2nd and stated that if a presidential election were to be held, he would "play a role," expressing his willingness to run.
In June 2021, Lee became the leader of the ruling party, the People Power Party, at the young age of 36 without any prior experience as a member of parliament, attracting attention. He graduated from Harvard University in the United States with a degree in computer science and economics.
After that, he launched an IT venture company. In 2011, he was appointed by former President Park Geun-hye as a member of the emergency response committee of the Grand National Party, the predecessor of the People Power Party, and became a politician.
However, he lost in the 2016 general election, the 2018 by-election for the National Assembly, and the 2020 general election. Without any prior experience as a lawmaker, he won the 2021 party leadership election and became the first president of a major political party in South Korea.
Lee became the first party leader in her 30s. In the 2022 presidential election, she supported Yoon as party leader, and since Yoon won, Lee became the leader of the ruling party. However, Lee has a history of sexual favors.
After receiving the letter, suspicions arose that he had encouraged the destruction of evidence, and the party's member ethics committee voted to suspend Lee as a disciplinary measure. As a result, Lee's authority to perform his duties as party leader was suspended.
During his suspension, Lee's term as party leader expired, and he announced in December 2023 that he would leave the party and form a new "Reform Party." Lee hopes to capture those dissatisfied with the two existing major conservative and liberal parties.
He ran in the general election in April last year and was elected. On the 2nd of this month, Lee announced his candidacy for the presidential election, saying that the political turmoil had caused a
He criticized both sides for their mistakes and stressed the need for a generational change, saying, "Our generation, born and raised in developed countries, will upgrade Korea."
He cited Clinton and Obama, saying, "Change comes with a bold change of generation." Regarding Lee's de facto announcement of his candidacy for the presidential election, South Korean news agency Yonhap News Agency
With a view to a presidential election being held if Yoon is impeached, Lee said, "He appears to want to maintain his presence as a 'third candidate' against the People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea."
"The decision to hold the press conference in Hong Dae, where young people gather, rather than in the National Assembly, can also be seen as a strategy that reflects this aim," he said.