South Korea holds election amid martial law environment

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<figcaption class="sc-536eff7b-0 FPsqq">Watch: Lee Jae-myung speaks behind bulletproof glass at a campaign rally</figcaption>
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    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">The striking feature of this election has been the leading opposition candidate, Lee Jae-myung, campaigning in a bullet-proof vest. </p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">At a recent rally, he was escorted to the podium by close protection officers, ready to shield him with their ballistic briefcases. He then addressed the crowd from behind bullet-proof glass, under the gaze of rooftop watchers.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">This is not South Korean politics as usual. But South Korea has not been itself lately.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">It is still recovering from the martial law crisis last December, when the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, tried to orchestrate a military takeover. </p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">He failed, because of resistance from the public and politicians, and was impeached, triggering this snap election to choose his successor.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">But the chaos Yoon unleashed that night has festered. </p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">While stuck in limbo, without a president, the country has become more polarised and its politics more violent. </p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">At street protests earlier this year it became commonplace to chant for various political leaders to be executed. And since launching his presidential bid, Lee has been receiving death threats, and his team say they have even uncovered a credible plot to assassinate him.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">This election is an opportunity to steer South Korea back onto safer, more stable ground, and heal these fractures.</p>
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    <figcaption class="sc-536eff7b-0 FPsqq">Martial law shocked South Koreans, sparking mass protests</figcaption>
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    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">Given this, the ruling party was always going to struggle, marred by President Yoon's self-defeating coup. But rather than break away from the disgraced former president, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) has chosen a candidate who repeatedly defended Yoon and his actions.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">Kim Moon-soo, Yoon's former labour minister, was the only cabinet member who refused to stand and apologise during a parliamentary hearing into martial law. He said sorry only well into his campaign, after he had won Yoon's public endorsement.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">This has turned the election into more of a referendum on martial law than anything else. Given most of the public overwhelmingly rejected the move, it has also virtually gilded the path for the opposition leader Lee, who famously livestreamed himself scaling the walls of the parliament complex, to get inside and vote down the president's order.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">Now the Democratic Party politician portrays himself as the only candidate who can ensure this never happens again. He has said he will change the constitution to make it more difficult for future presidents to declare martial law.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">"We must prevent the return of the rebellion forces," Lee urged voters at his recent rally from behind fortified glass.</p>
    <p class="sc-9a00e533-0 hxuGS">Such promises have pulled in people from across the political spectrum. "I didn't like Lee before, but since martial law I now trust and depend on him," said 59-year-old Park Suh-jung, who admitted this was the first time she had attended a political event.</p>
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    <div data-testid="image" class="sc-d1200759-1 kycbVO"><img src="https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/bbcdotcom/web/20250529-103858-de9d27ef1-web-2.22.3-1/grey-placeholder.png" class="sc-d1200759-0 dkIvM hide-when-no-script"/><img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb(5dbe)(live)(77e714c0-3d56-11f0-a3e0-9d06ba32c38a.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="BBC/ Hosu Lee Park Suh-jung stands in a blue jacket at a political rally, waving her hand" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/><span class="sc-d1200759-2 gwFzuU">BBC/ Hosu Lee</span></div></div>

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7069pg4zpko