South Korea Election Win Turns Moon Premier Into Possible Rival
- Lee Nak-yon was ranked as top candidate even before vote
- Journalist-turned-politician seen as less polarizing than Moon
Moon Jae-in during a virtual summit with global leaders in Seoul on March 26.
Photographer: South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
President Moon Jae-in may have delivered a crippling blow to South Korea’s opposition, but he also turned a prime minister who once served him into a potential rival within a more powerful ruling party.
Lee Nak-yon, 67, not only led Moon’s Democratic Party of Korea last week to the largest parliamentary victory since the end of military-backed rule more than three decades ago, he personally defeated the leader of the conservative opposition. That makes Lee a power broker in his own right and the presumptive frontrunner to succeed Moon when he’s constitutionally required to leave office in 2022.