South Korean Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung stepped down from the party chairmanship to run for President in the June 3 election. Mr Lee, considered a front-runner for the upcoming presidential election, with the nation’s largest party expecting Lee to announce his presidential bid. In 2022, he won the chairmanship of the DP after losing the presidential race to former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol by a thin margin.

Earlier, the  South Korean government formally designated June 3 as the date of the next presidential election following the ouster of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The designation was made at a Cabinet meeting four days after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of Yoon over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.