South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung (L) delivers a speech after taking his oath during his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 4, 2025. Photo: VCG

Lee Jae-myung sworn in as South Korea's new president on Wednesday. Lee of South Korea's majority liberal Democratic Party was elected president, the ongoing vote count by the National Election Commission showed on Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

With 94.4 percent of the votes counted after midnight, Lee won 48.8 percent and his major rival Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party took 42.0 percent, the National Election Commission data showed, per Xinhua.

Even if all the remaining uncounted votes go to Kim, Lee will win the presidential by-election, confirming his victory, according to media reports. 

Local broadcaster JTBC and three terrestrial broadcasters including KBS, MBC and SBS forecast earlier that Lee was certain to be elected the country's 21st president.

Lee assumed the presidency at 6:21 am, following the NEC's approval of his win during a plenary session, the Yonhap News Agency reported. 

Lee takes office immediately without a transition period, as the snap election was held on Tuesday to replace former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was ousted over a failed bid to impose martial law, according to the South Korean media report. 

Lee delivered a victory address from the National Assembly on Wednesday, pledging to restore democracy, revive the economy, ensure public safety and pursue peace on the Korean Peninsula, following his historic election win, the Chosun Daily reported. 

He also called for national unity and an end to political division, vowing to reject authoritarianism, confront economic stagnation, and reopen dialogue with North Korea, the South Korean media said. 

Reuters said Lee faces what could be the most daunting set of challenges for a South Korean leader in nearly three decades, ranging from healing a country deeply scarred by the martial law attempt to tackling unpredictable protectionist moves by the US, a major trading partner and security ally.

Lee, 61, who served as governor of Gyeonggi province and mayor of Seongnam city, has been a highly divisive figure in politics for years, according to media reports. 

As a former child laborer known for his inspirational rags-to-riches story, Lee came to fame through biting criticism of the country's conservative establishment and calls to build a more assertive South Korea in foreign policy. That rhetoric has given him an image as someone who can institute sweeping reforms and fix the country's deep-seated economic inequality and corruption, the Asahi Shimbun said. 

Lee has publicly advocated recharting South Korea's foreign policy away from former president Yoon's values-based diplomacy - instead calling for a recalibration of ties with China and Russia, underscoring their deep economic interdependence and geographical proximity, the Korea Herald reported in May. 

While affirming the South Korea-US alliance as a strategic cornerstone and recognizing the significance of trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo, Lee has consistently rejected being boxed into binary choices that would come at the expense of ties with Beijing and Moscow, according to South Korean media. 

Global Times