Lee Admits Defeat... Park Young-sun "Did My Best, But Heart Hurts" Gets Emotional

Tearing Up During Vote Counting Broadcast
"Sending a Defeat Message Is Also Very Difficult"
"Make a Decision Like Candidate Lee Jae-myung"

Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun, who appeared on SBS election coverage from the afternoon of the 9th to the early morning of the 10th / Photo by SBS

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] In the early morning of the 10th, when Yoon Seok-yeol was elected as the 20th president, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, declared his concession. Park Young-sun, former Minister of SMEs and Startups, who was watching this scene on a broadcast, expressed her sympathy, saying, "Candidate Lee must feel lonely and isolated."

Former Minister Park appeared on SBS's presidential election vote-counting broadcast "Presidential Lounge," which aired from the night of the 9th through the early morning of the 10th.

At around 3:50 a.m. that day, Candidate Lee held a press conference at the Democratic Party headquarters in Yeouido to declare his concession, and this scene was also broadcast during the program featuring former Minister Park.

At the press conference, Candidate Lee said, "Everything is due to my shortcomings. This defeat is not yours, nor the Democratic Party's. All responsibility lies solely with me," expressing regret by adding, "I did my best but could not meet expectations."

He also congratulated President-elect Yoon and urged him to pursue politics of unity. He emphasized, "I extend my congratulations to Candidate Yoon Seok-yeol. I earnestly ask the president-elect to open an era of unity and harmony beyond division and conflict." Afterwards, Candidate Lee shook hands with his supporters and then boarded a vehicle heading to his residence in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Watching this, former Minister Park said, "My heart ached a lot. I feel it was truly an election where he did his best, so it is very regrettable," and with teary eyes added, "It must have been very difficult for Candidate Lee to issue a message conceding defeat like that."

She added, "Still, I think he made a decision befitting himself."

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, declaring concession after losing the presidential election / Photo by Yonhap News

She said, "Seeing Candidate Lee get into the car alone, it looked very lonely," and added, "I also felt lonely last year." Earlier, former Minister Park ran as the Democratic Party candidate in the April 7th Seoul mayoral by-election last year but was defeated.

Former Minister Park emphasized, "Although the people have seen many mistakes and shortcomings from our Democratic Party, if they warmly embrace us, we will work hard and do well."

Meanwhile, President-elect Yoon won the presidential election against Candidate Lee after an 'ultra-close race' with a margin of less than 1 percentage point (p). As of the completion of vote counting on the 10th, President-elect Yoon received 16.39 million votes, accounting for 48.6% of the total valid votes, leading Candidate Lee, who received 16.14 million votes, by a margin of 0.7%p. The third-place candidate, Shim Sang-jung of the Justice Party, received 2.4% of the votes.

The vote difference between President-elect Yoon and Candidate Lee was only 247,077 votes. With this, President-elect Yoon became the president who won by the smallest margin since the direct election system for president was introduced in 1987.

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