President Yoon 'humbly accepts' defeat as DP proclaims 'judgment' passed after election

President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will "humbly accept" the results of the parliamentary election that swung massively in favor of the rival Democratic Party, which proclaimed it to be a referendum on his administration.

The day after Korea’s general election, an official from Jongno District Office dismantles campaign banners in downtown Seoul, loading them on a truck to discard of them on Thursday. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he will "humbly accept" his party's crushing electoral defeat after the rival Democratic Party (DP) clinched a resounding victory, enabling it to wield a majority in the 300-member National Assembly for four more years.

Earlier that morning, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and presidential aides in turn offered to resign, according to Yoon's office, to take responsibly for the starkly disappointing results for the conservative People Power Party (PPP) in Wednesday's general election.

The liberal DP and its satellite party, the Democratic United Party (DUP), secured a total of 175 seats including 14 proportional representation seats, while the PPP and its affiliated People Future Party (PFP) claimed 108 seats, including 18 proportional spots.

The DP won in 161 out of 254 directly elected regional constituencies, and the PPP 90 districts, according to the National Election Commission (NEC) as of 10:30 a.m. Thursday, after all votes were tallied overnight. Turnout was the highest for a legislative election in 32 years at 67 percent, a slight increase from the 2020 general election.

A dark horse victor in the election is former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, whose Rebuilding Korea Party secured 24 percent of the proportional race to claim 12 seats, potentially bringing the combined liberal bloc to nearly 190 seats.

The vote for proportional representation also saw the PFP garner 37 percent to take 46 parliamentary seats, while the DUP won 27 percent.

Other minor parties' performances were lackluster, however, with the Reform Party, led by former PPP chief Lee Jun-seok, securing three seats, including two proportional representatives, and the Saemirae Party, launched by former prime minister and recent DP defector Lee Nak-yon, allotted one directly elected seat, as was the Progressive Party.

The PPP's marked loss has put the president in a pickle, as this general election was framed as a referendum on either Yoon or his presidential race rival, DP Chairman Lee Jae-myung, whose party secured a parliamentary supermajority four years ago.

Despite the overwhelming win, the DP coalition is still shy of the 200 seats needed to railroad a presidential impeachment or constitutional amendments.

Yoon is now rendered a lame duck for the remaining half of his single-term, five-year presidency, dealing a blow to his reform agenda.

Nonetheless, he pledged to continue to work toward his key reform platforms.

"I will humbly accept the will of the people expressed through the general election," Yoon was quoted as saying by presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-seop during a press briefing at the Yongsan presidential office, "and do my best to reform state affairs and stabilize the economy and people's livelihoods."

Lee was one of three presidential aides that joined Prime Minister Han in offering to step down over the results, while also expressing their gratitude to the president.

Yoon, according to a presidential official, relayed his belief that the results of the general election are an evaluation by the public of the performance of state affairs, noting that there will be "time to reflect on the causes."

A reshuffle of Yoon's Cabinet and presidential office could be expected to follow.

The presidential office said, however, that members of the National Security Office were excluded from this voluntary resignation out of apparent consideration for the gravity of diplomatic and security matters, especially amid North Korea's increasing nuclear and missile threats.

Yoon, a political newcomer as a former prosecutor general, won the presidency in 2022, beating DP leader Lee, a former Gyeonggi governor, by a razor-thin margin. In the latest general election, Lee, who has been plagued by a land development scandal, was comfortably reelected to represent Incheon's Gyeyang-B District.

Securing over 54 percent of the vote, Lee handily defeated the PPP's candidate for the constituency, Won Hee-ryong, a former land minister in the Yoon administration who received some 45 percent, according to the NEC.

Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung speaks at a ceremony to disband his party’s election campaign committee at its headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, Thursday. The DP saw a landslide victory in Wednesday’s general election. [YONHAP]

"The voters' choice is a judgment of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration," Lee said at his campaign office in Incheon early Thursday after learning of his projected win. "As the voters have demanded, I will try my best to stop the regression of the country's state affairs and make it move toward the future once again."

Voter sentiment in the Seoul metropolitan area and Chungcheong region was an arbiter of victory in the latest election.

The DP swept 102 out of 122 seats in the metropolitan area, winning 37 of 48 constituencies in Seoul, 53 out of 60 in Gyeonggi and 12 out of 14 districts in Incheon.

In contrast, the PPP secured just 19 of the 122 constituencies, with 11 in Seoul, six in Gyeonggi and two in Incheon.

The party was also floored by the DP in the Chungcheong region, suffering defeat in all nine constituencies in Daejeon and Sejong. The PPP claimed a mere six victories in 19 contests in North Chungcheong and South Chungcheong.

The PPP fared much better in friendly territory, securing 25 seats in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, traditionally conservative regions, while the DP swept the 28 seats in Honam, comprising Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces, a liberal stronghold.

This marks the first time the governing party lost to its rival party by such a large margin, with this election considered a midterm evaluation of the current administration, which has some three years remaining.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, left, speaks in a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in central Seoul Thursday morning, addressing the general election results. [NEW1]

In a Cabinet meeting Thursday morning, Prime Minister Han promised that the government will "work harder to promote reform tasks" for the recovery of the people's livelihoods and the future of the country.

Han said the government also plans to "hold more dialogue and cooperate more deeply with the newly-formed 22nd National Assembly and respond to the will of the people as a partner in national affairs."

"The results of the general election are not a victory for the DP, but a great victory for our people," DP chief Lee said Thursday in a ceremony to disband the election campaign committee.

"Now that the election is over, all political circles, including rival parties, must work together to resolve the crisis in economy," he went on, promising that his party will "actively take the lead in resolving the people's livelihood issues."

With the DP firmly in the driver's seat, the Yoon government faces an uphill battle as the rival parties appear to be on an inevitable collision course, with the conservatives potentially facing deadlock, unable to pass legislation or budget bills without the consent of the majority DP bloc.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]