Lee "Did my best but couldn't meet expectations... Yoon, please open an era of harmony"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Myunghwan] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, conceded defeat in the presidential election, saying, "I did my best but failed to meet expectations."

At around 3:50 a.m. on the 10th, when the outline of the 20th presidential election winner became clear, Lee made this statement at a press conference held at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, saying, "I did my best but failed to meet expectations."

Regarding the winner, Yoon Seok-yeol, Lee said, "I congratulate candidate Yoon Seok-yeol. I earnestly ask the president-elect to open an era of unity and harmony beyond division and conflict."

Lee continued, "I still believe in our people. Our people were great," adding, "Even during the COVID-19 crisis, you showed a high level of democratic awareness with a high voter turnout. As long as you are here, the Republic of Korea will continue to move forward." He also expressed hope that "we will overcome the COVID crisis and restore daily life as soon as possible."

At a similar time, Yoon Seok-yeol of the People Power Party was confirmed as the winner of the 20th presidential election.

At 3:50 a.m. on the 10th, with 98% of the votes counted, Yoon secured 16.04 million votes, achieving 48.59% of the vote share, effectively confirming his election. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party received 15.78 million votes, accounting for 47.80% of the vote share. The vote difference between the two candidates was only 260,000 votes, or 0.8 percentage points.

Until the middle of the vote count, Lee showed a leading trend, but at the 51% counting mark, Yoon overtook him and maintained a gap of 0.6 to 1.0 percentage points.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.