Third time’s the charm for Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, now South Korea’s 14th president.
The 61-year-old former human rights lawyer ran for presidency twice unsuccessfully, first in 2017 and then in 2022, when he lost narrowly to impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol.
In the June 3 snap election—triggered by Parliament’s impeachment of Yoon on April 4 for breaching the constitution and other laws by declaring martial law—Lee beat five other presidential candidates and garnered close to 3 million votes more than Kim Moon-soo from the ruling conservative People Power Party.
When 36-year-old Yoon Go-eun (no relation to Yoon Suk Yeol) cast her ballot last Thursday during the early voting period at an elementary school in Gangnam, Seoul, she prayed God would raise up someone who could bring peace to the nation in a time of confusion.
Since Yoon’s martial law declaration last December, South Korea has experienced a season of political turmoil. Millions of people took to the streets for months, either protesting against Yoon or shoring up support for him.
Yoon Go-eun, a middle school teacher who attends a Presbyterian megachurch in Seoul, pinned her hopes on Lee. “In this moment of national instability, we need a leader who is capable, pragmatic, and able to restore order, especially in light of the recent crisis involving discussions of martial law,” she said.
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When Yoon heard Lee had won, she felt a sense of release, “as if things were finally falling into place.” She thought of Proverbs 16:9 (“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps”) and prayed that God would help Lee to carry out his responsibilities for the good of the people.
Although Kim, the conservative candidate who trailed behind Lee, is a churchgoer, Yoon did not vote for him. She’s troubled by Kim’s associations with pastor Jun Kwang-hoon and far-right ideologies, like the belief that there are Communist forces secretly colluding with China to aid North Korea within the country.
In South Korea, far-right politics are characterized by an anti-Communist and anti-China posture. These ideas have become entrenched within some Korean evangelical circles, leading them to label people who “criticise conservativism or conservative policies as pro-North Korean communists and antichrists,” Hawaii Pacific University professor Yong Jae Kim wrote in 2023.
Yoon felt disappointed by Kim Moon-soo’s lack of contrition for remarks he made last year that the Jeju islanders involved in an uprising between 1947 and 1954 were part of a “Communist riot.” In that incident, Korean military forces killed around 30,000 citizens on the island for protesting against the 1948 election in the belief that the results would divide the country permanently.
“To me, this is not the fruit of a healthy, biblically grounded faith,” Yoon said. “Such positions distort the gospel—and make me question whether [Kim] is truly a Christian.”
Yoon is not alone. The Korean evangelicals whom CT interviewed reflect a deepening political polarization in their voting decisions. Some favored Lee because they are against anti-Communist rhetoric, and others supported Kim because they believe he can protect South Korea from Communist influences.
Like Yoon, Kim Jiwon (no relation to Kim Moon-soo) voted for Lee. The 45-year-old manager at a logistics company, who worships at Jeju Youngnak Presbyterian Church, kept thinking of Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as he prayed over the election.
Although Kim does not think Lee’s policies are perfect, he felt they reflect “more consistent concern for issues of justice, equality, and the well-being of marginalized people.”
The new South Korean president grew up in poverty, working as a child laborer at factories, where he suffered a wrist injury that left him with a permanent disability. After securing a full scholarship to Seoul’s Chung-Ang University to study law, he became a human rights lawyer who defended industrial-accident victims and residents facing eviction amid urban redevelopment projects.
“We will not tolerate violations of rules that harm others—such as endangering lives, infringing workers’ rights, oppressing the weak or manipulating stock markets for unfair gain,” he said in his inaugural speech.
Lee begins his term immediately even as he faces five trials for various charges, including corruption, involvement in suspicious development projects, illegal money transfers to North Korea, misuse of official funds, and instigation of perjury.
Despite these scandals, Lee gained approval across the country as he led efforts to impeach Yoon. Ahead of the election, around half (50.2%) of Koreans polled in a nationwide survey were supportive of Lee.
Conservative candidate Kim Moon-soo, meanwhile, opposed Yoon’s impeachment, did not cut ties with Yoon, and refused to bow to the nation as an apology for declaring martial law.
Kim Moon-soo has also used divisive language, like referring to Koreans who fought for democracy during President Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship in the ’60s and ’70s as “commies,” Kim Jiwon said.
When Kim Moon-soo was a teenager, his high school suspended him for protesting against Park Chung-hee. Today, however, the presidential candidate “defends authoritarian measures and justifies state violence, including the possibility of martial law under the former president,” Kim Jiwon said. “To me, these are not the actions of someone who has faith.”
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But some evangelicals think otherwise. They support Kim Moon-soo because of his hard-line stance against Communist infiltration in the country.
Kang Gwi-ran, a 60-year-old pro-Yoon supporter and Presbyterian pastor in Seoul, voted for Kim, as she believes South Korea is “politically, economically, and culturally infiltrated by the Chinese Communist regime.” She prayed fervently that Kim would be elected so he could carry out Yoon’s vision to eradicate pro-China influences in the country.
Kim and members of his party have accused Lee’s party of undermining the country’s ties to America by seeking stronger linkages with China. Right-wing YouTube channels also claimed that the impeached Yoon was a victim of China’s electoral influence.
“China was our enemy, whose Communist Party invaded our country during the Korean War,” Kim said in a televised presidential debate last month. “Then how can we treat China at the same level with the United States?”
“The church must awaken and help save the nation” from such “dangers,” Kang added.
Other evangelicals, like 70-year-old Gil Min-hwa, voted for Kim because she wants to see North and South Korea reunified. In her view, Kim values the alliance between South Korea and the US, which would help encourage a reunification that is “led by the South and grounded in democratic principles.”
“I believe God desires to use a unified Korea to play a key role in global evangelization,” said Gil, a retired pastor in the central city of Daejeon.
Two years ago, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un declared that unification between North and South was “impossible,” breaking from the country’s historical approach—articulated by Kim Il Sung in 1991—of seeking unification through establishing a confederacy with two systems.
Presidential candidates Kim and Lee have adopted starkly different approaches to reunification. Kim condemned North Korea’s human rights abuses and pushed to boost South Korean military prowess against North Korean nuclear threats.
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Lee, meanwhile, pledged to rekindle dialogue and communication channels between North and South and make improvements to policies relating to North Korean defectors and humanitarian aid to the North.
Gil remains undeterred by Kim’s loss. “I will continue to trust God’s sovereign plan,” she said. “He can use both good and evil for his purposes.”
As anxiety over South Korea’s future and its newly minted leader continue to rock evangelical relationships in South Korea, Yoon finds that her church has been a refuge from the ongoing political storm.
At one small group meeting with fellow Christians who held dissimilar views, the group had honest conversations with one another and prayed for wisdom and for God’s justice to prevail, instead of praying only for their preferred election outcomes.
“Moments like these have shown me that our church values humility and love even amid political differences,” Yoon said. “We must stop using Scripture to justify our political opinions. The Bible is not a partisan weapon.”
