Lee

For years, Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee declined to publicly discuss a fateful Las Vegas trip he took in 2017 with his then-boss Mitch Englander and a trio of businessmen.

That trip led to an FBI investigation of Englander, then a City Council member, who accepted an envelope of cash in a casino bathroom from one of the businessmen and later pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators.

Last week, in court to address allegations from the L.A. Ethics Commission, Lee finally broke his silence, divulging details of the high-rolling trip and insisting that he paid for his share.

There was his comped Aria hotel room — a standard room, not a suite, he said. There was the Hakkasan Nightclub, where he sipped whiskey and danced as hostesses paraded out $8,000 bottles of booze. And there was the casino, where he played blackjack — after losing $1,000 at the baccarat table — because he preferred the lower-stakes game.

Over and over, Lee, who was then Englander’s chief of staff, denied accepting gifts in violation of city ethics laws. Under grilling by a city enforcement officer, Lee described stuffing $300 into the pocket of one of the businessmen, Andy Wang, to cover his share at the nightclub. At dinner earlier that night, he said, he paid for his own drinks.

“I believe I made a good-faith effort to repay what I consumed that night,” Lee testified.

In 2023, the Ethics Commission accused Lee, who occupies Englander’s former seat representing the northwest San Fernando Valley, of accepting “multiple gifts” in violation of ethics laws, including free hotel rooms, poker chips and food, from a businessman and a developer during the Vegas trip.

The businessman and the developer were not named in the complaint, but details indicate that one was Wang and the other was Christopher Pak, both of whom testified as witnesses.

The commission has also accused Lee of helping Englander backdate checks to repay the businessman who comped the hotel rooms.

Federal prosecutors never criminally charged Lee, and he has said he was unaware of any wrongdoing by Englander.

At the time, city officials, including high-ranking council aides, could accept gifts with a value between $50 and $470 from a single source but had to disclose them, according to city and state laws. They were not allowed to accept gifts over $470 from a single source.

The Ethics Commission alleges that Lee violated both provisions.

Attorneys for Lee, who denies the allegations, have repeatedly tried to block the commission’s case, arguing that the statute of limitations had expired.

Witness testimony concluded last week, and Administrative Law Judge Ji-Lan Zang is expected to make a recommendation about what, if any, ethics violations Lee committed.

Then, a panel of ethics commissioners will vote on whether violations occurred and what the financial penalties, if any, should be.

In 2023, Englander agreed to pay $79,830 to settle a similar Ethics Commission case.

At last week’s hearing, city enforcement officer and attorney Marian Thompson sought to cast doubt on Lee’s version of events. She zeroed in on his insistence that he joined the group at an expensive Chinese restaurant, Blossom, but didn’t eat because he arrived late.

She read aloud the bill for the nearly $2,500 dinner — Kobe beef, Maine lobster, Peking duck, sea bass and more. Surely Lee, who had previously described himself as a “meat and potatoes” guy, liked Kobe beef? Thompson asked.

Lee said he tried only the bird’s nest soup. He described taking a spoonful of someone else’s bowl and saying, “Absolutely not” — it was “gelatinous,” he told Thompson.

Lee acknowledged drinking at the restaurant, giving someone — he couldn’t remember whom — $100 to cover the tab.

According to Englander’s 2020 federal indictment, a “City Staffer B” received some of the same perks as Englander during the Vegas trip. That staffer was widely presumed to be Lee, prompting calls for the newly elected council member to resign. Since then, questions about the Vegas trip have dogged Lee, though he easily won reelection in 2024.

Englander was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison. In his plea agreement, he admitted lying repeatedly to federal investigators and receiving a combined $15,000 in cash — $10,000 in a casino bathroom in Las Vegas, plus $5,000 at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa from an unnamed businessman.

That man, Wang, ran companies that sold cabinets and home technology systems, was seeking relationships with real estate developers and others to increase his business opportunities in the city.

During his testimony last week, Lee said he followed city ethics laws during the Vegas trip. At the Aria hotel-casino, Englander showed Lee poker chips that Wang had given him, Lee testified.

“I told him immediately that he needed to give those chips back to Andy,” Lee said.

Lee also said he gave Englander a blank check with the understanding that Englander would reimburse Wang, who had comped Lee’s room.

But in a declaration in the ethics case, Englander wrote that neither he nor Lee reimbursed Wang “for any of the gifts we received at the Aria,” including the room, meals and drinks.

“While in Las Vegas, NV, Lee did not give me a check to reimburse Wang,” Englander added.

Thompson asked Lee about Englander’s statements.

“He’s lied before,” Lee replied.

In addition to Wang, two others — Michael Bai, a lobbyist who formerly worked at City Hall, and Koreatown developer Pak — came on the Vegas trip. Bai also testified as a witness last week.

Lee and Englander gave Wang separate checks for $442 on Sept. 14 that year. The ethics commission has accused Lee and Englander of backdating the checks to Aug. 4 — before they were interviewed by the FBI.

Lee disputed that during the hearing, saying he gave Englander his check on Aug. 4, after he said Englander had lost the earlier one.

At the Hakkasan club, Wang spent $24,000 on bottle service, with Pak spending an additional $10,000.

According to an estimate by the commission, the share Lee drank was worth $5,666.67.

But Lee’s attorney, Brian Hildreth, challenged that assertion. Dozens of revelers streamed through the group’s VIP booth that night, Lee and Pak both testified.

Lee said he had only two to four drinks and suggested that many people drank from the bottles.

Addressing questions about the casino, Lee acknowledged accepting $1,000 in poker chips from Wang, saying he thought he was playing on Wang’s behalf. Lee said he would have given any winnings to Wang.

But Lee testified that he didn’t know how to play baccarat and warned Wang that he wasn’t doing well, ultimately losing all the chips.

During questioning by Hildreth, Lee described withdrawing a total of $1,500 from ATMs in Vegas, with a bank statement listing the three withdrawals over two days.

Lee testified that he wanted “to make sure that I had my own money and paid for everything that I was a part of.”

Thompson pursued a counternarrative, describing the spectacle of nightclub hostesses bringing out bottles.

“You got VIP treatment?” Thompson asked.

“Treatment I’d never received before,” Lee answered.

June 7 (UPI) — South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung spoke for the first time with U.S. President Donald Trump late Friday as both leaders agreed to further strengthen their nations’ alliance.

Lee, who took office Wednesday, talked with Trump in a 20-minute phone call, according to the presidential office of South Korea.

The White House has not confirmed the conversation, and the president, who is in New Jersey this weekend, hasn’t posted about the call on Truth Social.

The two presidents agreed to strive toward reaching a mutually acceptable trade agreement, including on tariffs.

Trump has imposed 10% baseline tariffs on most trading partners. On April 2, Trump said the Republic of Korea would face a 49% duty but one week later he paused it for three months along with the other worst offenders in the trade imbalance.

South Korea’s tariffs on imported agricultural goods average 54%.

Trump congratulated Lee on his election victory, and the new leader expressed his gratitude, according to the office.

Lee noted the importance of the alliance, which forms the foundation of Seoul’s diplomacy.

The phone call was “conducted in a friendly and candid atmosphere,” as they shared anecdotes and experiences from their election campaigns, according to South Korea’s presidential office.

They exchanged views on their assassination attempts last year and political challenges, in addition to discussing their their golf skills and agreed to play a round together.

Trump invited Lee to the White House and the Group of Seven summit in Alberta, Canada, from June 15-17.

South Korea is not a G7 member state, but the nation attended them group’s meetings in 2021 and 2023. Korea’s neighbor, Japan, is a member of the G7.

Yonhap reported the South Korea government is in consultations for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak to their leader.

It has not been decided whether Lee will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders’ summit in the Netherlands on June 24 and 25, according to the presidential office.

Lee, the Democratic Party liberal candidate, won in a landslide over Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party. He was inaugurated the next day on Wednesday.

South Koreans turned out in record numbers in a snap election triggered by the impeachment and removal of Yoon Suk Yeol in April after a botched martial law decree.

Some 35.24 million voters cast a ballot, representing a turnout of 79.4% — the highest mark since an 80.7% turnout in 1997.

Another summer of love begins, with Maya Jama reprising the helm of Love Island on ITV2 this week. Over on the BBC, however, another fan-favourite show is set for its own comeback.

From gripping dramas and explosive rows to enlightening and thought-provoking shows, this week of TV is sure to pander to everyone.

Presenter Maya Jama is returning to screens this Monday, June 9, as she reprises hosting duties on ITV2‘s Love Island. Expect bombshells and surprises pairings ahead.

Meanwhile, the BBC is treating viewers to another round of The Gold, with Hugh Bonneville and Charlotte Spencer, and Not Going Out, starring Sally Bretton and Lee Mack. But on Channel 4, Jamie Oliver advocates for more inclusive schools to help neurodivergent children.

Streaming platforms also have plenty of choices this week, including Sir David Attenborough‘s love letter to the sea and Netflix‘s deep dive in Astroworld – the festival that spiralled out of control in 2021, triggering backlash against rap star Travis Scott.

READ MORE: Luxury hotel offering Elemis spa treatment with a free £101 beauty gift

The Gold

Sunday 8th, BBC1

Hugh Bonneville and Charlotte Spencer team up as DCS Brian Boyce and DI Nicki Jennings for The Gold’s second season as their characters deal with the aftermath of the Brink’s-Mat robbery, in which £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds and cash were stolen from a warehouse.

Though some of the thieves were convicted, Brian and Nicki realise the criminals only had half of the stolen goods. The discovery triggers a high-stakes journey into organised crime and international money laundering as the police embark on a string of desperate manhunts to finally close the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police.

Our Yorkshire Shop: A Victorian Restoration

Sunday, C4

This series takes viewers to the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, in the picturesque village of Masham – where a determined group of locals take on the ambitious challenge of restoring their village shop to its former Victorian glory.

With no previous experience in building restoration, villagers roll up their sleeves and learn on the job – from line plastering to fending off animal infestations.

Motivated by 94-year-old Elsie, their emotional anchor, the group are guided both in spirit and style, delivering a heartwarming celebration of local heritage.

Ocean with David Attenborough

Sunday, Disney +

At the age of 99, Sir David Attenborough presents Ocean, a powerful documentary highlighting the critical state of the world’s oceans.

Through stunning visuals and groundbreaking underwater footage, this film exposes destructive practices like bottom trawling and emphasises the urgent need for marine conservation.

Released ahead of the UN Ocean Conference, Ocean serves as a wake-up call and David’s most personal message yet. And it’s already become the highest-grossing film in the UK and Irish box-office, earning £570,000 on its opening weekend in cinemas.

Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution

Monday, C4

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver shares his personal journey with dyslexia in this compelling documentary as he takes a stand for neurodivergent children.

Highlighting the challenges faced by thousands of children with dyslexia in the UK, Jamie fiercely advocates for a more inclusive and supportive education system.

Through interviews with experts, educators, families and even familiar celebrity faces, the film sheds light on systemic issues affecting dyslexic children and calls for meaningful change to help them thrive academically and beyond.

Beth

Monday, C4

Written and directed by photographer and budding filmmaker Uzo Oleh, this tense three-part science-fiction thriller is Channel 4’s first-ever digital original drama.

Nicholas Pinnock and Abbey Lee star as Joe and Molly – a couple whose lives are upended when their newborn daughter, Imogen, bears no resemblance to her father.

What begins as a domestic drama spirals into paranoia, identity crises and eerie revelations as Joe’s world starts to unravel. Through their story, this hard-hitting show explores mistrust, modern parenthood and the fear that something has gone horribly wrong.

Love Island

Monday, ITV

Maya Jama returns to host the twelfth season of the iconic ITV2 dating show, promising more drama, more bombshells, plenty of break-ups and even more make-ups in celebration of its tenth anniversary on screens.

Set at the iconic sun-soaked Mallorca villa, a fresh batch of singletons embark on a quest for love and a jaw-dropping £50k cash prize. Expect twists, turns, unexpected pairings and shock dumpings, cryptic Love Island lingo and more Casa Amor turmoil. Which couple will tackle the journey hand-in-hand? And who will call it quits?

Shardlake

Monday, ITV

C.J. Samsom’s Tudor mystery novels come alive in this gripping four-part series. Arthur Hughes (The Innocents, The Archers) stars as brilliant barrister Matthew Shardlake, dispatched by Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean) to investigate a murder at a remote monastery.

As secrets unravel, Matthew and his companion Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle) navigate an intricate web of lies and political intrigue – but can Matthew really trust his companion? With atmospheric settings and compelling performances, this period drama offers a fresh take on historical crime storytelling.

The Yorkshire Vet: At Home With the Greens

Tuesday, Channel 5

Yorkshire Vet star Peter Wright offers a heartwarming new glimpse into the lives of fan favourites Steve and Jean Green, known as Britain’s longest-standing farmers.

This spin-off series invites viewers beyond the surgery and into the farm, where the couple balance rural life with their passion for animals.

Expect tender moments, behind-the-scenes insights and the same down-to-earth charm that made the original series a staple for animal lovers across the UK.

Trainwreck: The Astroworld tragedy

Tuesday, Netflix

This harrowing documentary revisits the 2021 Astroworld Festival disaster, where a crowd surge led to ten deaths and numerous injuries during a Texas-based festival launched by US rap star Travis Scott.

Through exclusive interviews with survivors, paramedics and festival staff, the film examines the events leading up to the tragedy and its aftermath. It delves into questions of accountability, safety protocols and the impact on the victims’ families, providing a sobering look at one of the most devastating concert incidents in recent history.

Speed Cameras: Out to Get Us?

Wednesday, C5

This investigative documentary explores the proliferation of speed cameras across the UK. Traveling from Nottinghamshire to Wales, it examines whether these devices are genuine safety tools or revenue-generating machines.

Featuring insights from traffic officers, drivers and the pioneer who introduced speed cameras to Britain’s roads in 1990, the programme questions their effectiveness and future. It’s a wild ride through Britain – but with less potholes.

Flight 149: Hostage of War

Wednesday, Sky Documentaries & NOW

This gripping documentary uncovers the shocking truth behind British Airways Flight 149, which landed in Kuwait mere hours before Iraq’s 1990 invasion. What really happened to the passengers and crew held hostage by Saddam Hussein’s forces?

With first-hand testimonies, classified documents and a decades-long silence finally broken, this film lays bare a chilling and unflinching tale of government secrets, human endurance and political betrayal. It’s a must-watch for fans of true stories where the stakes are life and death – and the answers still sting.

DNA Journey with Ancestry

Thursday, ITV

The hit ITV series, DNA Journey returns for a gripping fifth season. This time round, new celebrity duos set off on an emotional journey across history, uncovering jaw-dropping family secrets and unexpected connections.

Jo Brand and Julian Clary, Fay Ripley and Hermione Norris and Sam Thompson and Marvin Humes are taking on the challenge. With laughter, tears and twists in every episode, DNA Journey continues to prove that our past holds the key to who we really are.

Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection

Thursday, ITV2

In this immersive documentary series, Love Island alum Olivia Attwood investigates the lengths individuals go to achieve physical perfection in today’s image-obsessed society.

Drawing from her own experiences with cosmetic procedures, Olivia explores the booming beauty industry, meeting people who have undergone extreme transformations and embedding herself with patients and practitioners to try some of them out herself – including salmon sperm injections.

The series delves into the true psychological and physical costs of chasing perfection, offering a candid look at the intense pressures stemming from modern beauty standards.

Not Going Out

Friday, BBC1

Lee Mack’s long-running sitcom returns for its 14th series, continuing to deliver laughs with witty dialogue and relatable scenarios. The show follows the misadventures of Lee and his wife Lucy (Sally Bretton) as they navigate the challenges of family life.

With a time jump moving the story six years ahead, the couple adjust to a new home in the countryside while their children are away at university. The series remains a staple of British comedy, combining sharp humour with heartwarming moments.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) — Lee Jae-myung was sworn in as South Korea’s president on Wednesday, just hours after his victory was certified in a snap election that brought an end to months of political turmoil in the country.

Lee’s term officially began at 6:21 a.m. when the National Election Commission certified his victory over challenger Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party.

The new president received 49.42% of the vote, while Kim garnered 41.15%, the NEC confirmed. Minor conservative Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok finished with 8.34%.

In a speech during a scaled-down ceremony at the National Assembly, Lee pledged to unify a country that saw its political divisions grow deeper in the aftermath of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law attempt in December.

“Regardless of who you supported in this presidential election, I will become a president of all who embraces and serves all the people,” Lee said.

During his campaign, Lee framed the election as an existential choice for the future of South Korean democracy, and he echoed that theme in his remarks.

“I will become a president who ends the politics of division,” he said. “I will overcome the crisis by using national unity as my driving force. I will restore what was lost and destroyed by the insurrection.”

South Korea “has become a clear example for people around the world who are looking for a new way forward for democracy in crisis,” he added.

Lee inherits a raft of challenges as president, with economic concerns at the top of the list. South Korea saw its economy shrink in the first quarter of the year, and the export-driven country is facing tariff negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% on Wednesday.

In his remarks, Lee said the election was a “turning point of great change” and vowed to stimulate economic growth.

“It is time to revive the people’s livelihoods that have been driven to the brink, restore growth and create a tomorrow where everyone is happy,” he said.

Lee, who rose to fame as a progressive firebrand during his tenure as mayor of Seongam and then governor of Gyeonggi Province, recast himself as a centrist during the campaign.

On Wednesday, Lee said his administration “will be a pragmatic market-oriented government.” He reiterated campaign pledges to invest heavily in science and technology, with a heavy focus on developing one of the world’s top artificial intelligence industries.

Lee also vowed to take a pragmatic approach toward healing the country’s deep political divides.

“Let’s send old ideologies to the museum of history,” he said. “From now on, there will be no problems for progressives. From now on, there will be no problems for conservatives. There will only be problems of the people and of the Republic of Korea.”

The 60-year-old briefly touched on pressing geopolitical concerns during his remarks, including an increasingly dangerous nuclear-armed North Korea.

Lee said he would continue to strengthen cooperation with the United States and Japan — a trilateral alliance that Yoon championed — but said Seoul would “approach relations with neighboring countries from the perspective of national interests and practicality.”

While Yoon and the PPP’s Kim took a hardline approach toward Pyongyang, Lee pledged during his campaign to reopen communications with Seoul’s recalcitrant neighbor.

“We will prepare for North Korea’s nuclear weapons and military provocations, while opening channels of communication with North Korea and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and cooperation,” Lee said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Lee on his election victory Wednesday and affirmed the strong ties between the allies.

“The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the alliance grounded in our Mutual Defense Treaty, shared values and deep economic ties,” Rubio said in a statement.

“We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience and defend our shared democratic principles,” he said.

Lee began assembling his cabinet on Wednesday, nominating one of his top campaign aides, Democratic Party Rep. Kim Min-seok, as his candidate for prime minister. He also tapped former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok to head the National Intelligence Service, the nation’s top spy agency.

Both nominees must undergo confirmation hearings. Lee’s chief of staff will be Democratic Party Rep. Kang Hoon-sik.

President Lee Jae-myung has pledged to tackle the economy and improve relations with North Korea after his swearing-in.

South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung has pledged to “heal wounds” after months of political and economic turmoil across the country and to reopen dialogue with North Korea in his first speech after taking office following a landslide win at the polls.

Lee, who hails from the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, replaces ousted President Yoon Suk-yeol, who last year triggered a national emergency when he briefly imposed martial law, citing antistate forces and North Korean infiltration.

After taking the oath of office at parliament on Wednesday, Lee pledged to help South Korea reverse course following months of uncertainty and political protest.

South Korea has also found itself under attack from the United States, a top economic and security ally, where trade protectionism is on the rise under President Donald Trump.

“A Lee Jae-myung government will be a pragmatic pro-market government,” Lee said in a speech.

Lee said he would try to make headway in South Korea’s relations with Pyongyang, working to “deter North Korean nuclear and military provocations while opening communication channels and pursuing dialogue and cooperation to build peace on the Korean Peninsula”.

“We will heal the wounds of division and war and establish a future of peace and prosperity,” he said.

“No matter how costly, peace is better than war,” he added.

Lee also warned that “rising protectionism and supply chain restructuring” posed a threat to South Korea’s export-driven economy, and said he would address cost-of-living concerns facing middle- and low-income families.

South Korea’s caretaker government, which ruled after Yoon’s ouster, failed to negotiate a trade deal with the Trump administration to cut down proposed tariffs on imports from the country.

Trump’s 25 percent “Liberation Day” tariffs on South Korea – aimed at addressing the US trade imbalance – are currently on pause pending negotiations, but South Korean exporters were hit with a new 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminium products.

Lee won this week’s snap election with 49.4 percent of the vote, well ahead of conservative candidate Kim Moon-soo, as South Korean voters turned out in the highest numbers since 1997.

Lee Jae-myung’s hardscrabble path to the South Korean presidency mirrors his country’s stratospheric rise from grinding poverty to one of the world’s leading economies.

When Lee, a scandal-prone school dropout-turned-lawyer who was elected in a landslide on Tuesday, was born in 1963, South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was comparable with sub-Saharan African nations.

South Korea was so poor, in fact, that Lee’s exact birthday is a mystery – his parents, like many families alert to the sky-high infant mortality of the era, took about a year to register his birth.

Yet even by the standards of the day, Lee’s early years were marked by deprivation and adversity, including stints as an underage factory labourer.

Known for his populist and outspoken style, Lee, the standard bearer for the left-leaning Democratic Party, has often credited his humble beginnings with moulding his progressive beliefs.

“Poverty is not a sin, but I was always particularly sensitive to the injustices I experienced because of poverty,” Lee said in a speech in 2022.

“The reason I am in politics now is to help those still suffering in the pit of poverty and despair that I managed to escape, by building a fair society and a world with hope.”

The fifth of seven children, Lee dropped out of school in his early teens to move to Seongnam, a satellite city of Seoul, and take up employment to support his family.

At age 15, Lee was injured in an accident at a factory making baseball gloves, leaving him permanently unable to straighten his left arm.

Despite missing years of formal education, Lee graduated from middle and high school by studying for the exams outside of work hours.

In 1982, he gained admission to Chung-Ang University in Seoul to study law and went on to pass the bar exam four years later.

During his law career, Lee was known for championing the rights of the underdog, including victims of industrial accidents and residents facing eviction due to urban redevelopment projects.

In 2006, Lee made his first foray into politics with an unsuccessful bid for the mayorship of Seongnam, which he followed two years later with a failed run for a parliamentary seat in the city.

In 2010, he finally broke into politics by winning Seongnam’s mayoral election on his second attempt and went on to earn re-election four years later.

From 2018 to 2021, Lee served as governor of Gyeonggi, the country’s most populous province, which surrounds Seoul.

Both as mayor and governor, Lee attracted attention beyond his immediate electorate by rolling out a series of populist-flavoured economic policies, including a limited form of universal basic income.

After stepping down as governor, Lee entered the national stage as the Democratic Party candidate in the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to Yoon Suk-yeol by 0.73 percent of the vote – the narrowest margin in South Korean history.

Despite facing a slew of political and personal scandals, culminating in at least five legal cases, Lee led the Democratic Party to one of its best results in last year’s parliamentary elections, delivering it 173 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

After Yoon’s impeachment and removal from the presidential office following his short-lived declaration of martial law in December, Lee earned his party’s nomination without serious challenge, garnering nearly 90 percent of the primary vote.

“His communication style is direct and straightforward, and he is astute at recognising social and political trends, which is a rare quality among politicians of his generation in Korea,” Lee Myung-hee, an expert on South Korean politics at Michigan State University, told Al Jazeera.

“However, this direct communication style can sometimes hinder his political advancement, as it may easily offend his opponents.”

During his election campaign, Lee played down his progressive credentials in favour of a more pragmatic persona and a milder iteration of the populist economic agenda that powered his rise to national prominence.

In the weeks leading to the vote, Lee’s victory was rarely in doubt, with his closest competitor, Kim Moon-soo, of the conservative People Power Party, often trailing the candidate by more than 20 points in opinion polls.

‘A progressive pragmatist’

As president, Lee has pledged to prioritise the economy, proposing, among other things, a major boost in investment in artificial intelligence, the introduction of a four-and-a-half-day work week, and tax deductions for parents in proportion to the number of children they have.

On foreign affairs, he has promised to mend relations with North Korea while pushing for its ultimate denuclearisation – in keeping with the traditional stance of his Democratic Party – and maintain the US-Korea security alliance without alienating China and Russia.

“I would call him a progressive pragmatist. I don’t think he will stick to any consistent progressive lines or even conservative lines,” Yong-chool Ha, director of the Center for Korea Studies at the University of Washington, told Al Jazeera.

“Critics call him a kind of manipulator; his supporters call him flexible,” Ha said.

“I would say he is a survivor.”

While Lee will enter office with the backing of a commanding majority in the National Assembly, he will take stewardship of a country that is deeply polarised and racked by divisions following Yoon’s impeachment.

“The Korean political landscape remains highly polarised and confrontational, and his ability to navigate this environment will be crucial to his success,” said Lee, the Michigan State University professor.

Lee will also have to navigate a volatile international environment shaped by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, great power rivalries, and United States President Donald Trump’s shake-up of international trade.

For Lee personally, his election, after two unsuccessful bids for the presidency, marks an extraordinary comeback befitting the against-the-odds origin story that propelled his rise.

Lee had been facing five criminal proceedings, including charges of election law violations and breach of trust in connection with a land corruption scandal.

Following his election, Lee is all but certain to avoid trial during his five-year term in office.

Under the South Korean constitution, sitting presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution, except in cases of insurrection or treason – although there is debate among legal scholars about whether the protection extends to proceedings that are already under way.

To remove ambiguity, the Democratic Party last month passed an amendment to the criminal code stating that criminal proceedings against a person who is elected president must be suspended until the end of their term.

SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) — Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung was on track to win the South Korean presidential election by a landslide after almost all votes had been counted early Wednesday morning, bringing an end to months of political turmoil spurred by the botched martial law decree and impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee was leading his main opponent, Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party, by 48.44% to 42.59% with 90% of votes counted, according to the National Election Commission. By late Tuesday evening, local broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS had projected a certain win for Lee in the snap election triggered by the ouster of Yoon.

In a speech near the National Assembly delivered at 1:15 a.m., Lee thanked his supporters and promised to accept the responsibility the voters have given him.

“I will not forget for a moment the mission you have expected and entrusted to me, and I will definitely fulfill it without fail,” he told a raucous crowd the Democratic Party estimated at 5,000 people.

Kim Moon-soo conceded shortly afterward at PPP headquarters in western Seoul.

Humbly accepting the results of the 21st presidential election, Kim said, “Nothing can take precedence over the will of the people.”

Some 35.24 million voters cast a ballot, representing a turnout of 79.4% — the highest mark since an 80.7% turnout in 1997. Excitement around the snap election was high, as many voters appeared eager to send a message of repudiation to the former Yoon regime and his People Power Party.

After voting ended at 8 p.m., ballot boxes from 14,295 polling stations nationwide were transferred to 254 counting stations. Some 70,000 poll workers will be counting throughout the night before officially certifying the result.

Lee’s inauguration will be held on Wednesday, without the typical two-month transition period due to Yoon’s removal from office in April.

He will face a host of challenges almost immediately, including an economic downturn and tariff negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week announced plans to double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%. The presidential vacuum over the past several months has made it difficult for South Korea, an export-driven country, to craft a trade package ahead of the July deadline for Trump’s 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.

Geopolitical concerns, including an increasingly dangerous North Korea, and a looming demographic crisis caused by the world’s lowest birth rate are key issues facing South Korea.

On this election day, however, the mood for Lee’s supporters was a mix of jubilation and relief. Many described casting their votes as a part of an existential battle for South Korean democracy in the wake of Yoon’s shocking Dec. 3 martial law attempt.

Exactly six months after that attempt, Lee said his first duty was to “restore democracy.”

“The first mission you have entrusted to me is to overcome the insurrection and prevent another military coup that threatens the people with the guns and swords entrusted to them by the people,” Lee said in his speech.

He also pledged to revive the economy and work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula before ending with a call for unity after the deepest political turmoil the country has seen in decades.

“The responsibility of the president is to unite the people,” Lee said. “This temporary difficulty that we are experiencing can be overcome by the combined strength of our great citizens. Will you join hands with your neighbors with hope and confidence? Now is the time to do it.”

A BRIT former flight attendant accused of smuggling £1.2 million worth of cannabis today appeared in front of a  Sri Lankan court.

Part-time beautician Charlotte May Lee was arrested last week after cops found two suitcases stuffed with 46kg of synthetic drug kush — which is 25 times more potent than opioid fentanyl.

2

2

If found guilty, South Londoner Charlotte could face a 25-year sentence.

The Brit appeared in front of a court today after languishing in a “hell-hole” prison for days.

Charlotte from Surrey was stopped by Sri Lankan customs officials after stepping off a flight from Thailand on Monday last week.

Speaking from behind bars Charlotte said she had “no idea” that there were drugs in her luggage when she left Bangkok.

She claimed: “I had never seen them before. I didn’t expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport. I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff.

“I had been in Bangkok the night before and had already packed my clothes because my flight was really early.

“So I left my bags in the hotel room and headed for the night out. As they were already packed I didn’t check them again in the morning.”

The young Brit believes the huge amount of illegal substances were planted in her luggage in a planned move by dangerous dealers in Southeast Asia.

Kush, a highly addictive synthetic drug, has claimed the lives of thousands in West Africa where it first appeared in 2022 – and is spreading globally at an alarming rate.

The dirt-cheap drug is cut with an array of additives including acetone, the opioid tramadol and formalin, a toxic chemical commonly used to preserve bodies in mortuaries.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

Thesun.co.uk is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesun and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.

Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee were childhood friends, altar boys raised in the Catholic pews and prosperous suburbs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

By the mid-1970s, Boyce was angry about the Vietnam War and Watergate. He was a liberal, a stoner and a lover of falcons. Lee, a doctor’s adopted son, was a cocaine and heroin pusher who was spiraling into addiction.

How they became spies for the Soviet Union is a story emblematic of 1970s Southern California, where the state’s massive Cold War aerospace industry collided with its youthful anti-establishment currents.

Everyone agrees it should never have been possible.

In the summer of 1974, Boyce, a bright but disaffected 21-year-old college dropout, got a job as a clerk at the TRW Defense and Space Systems complex in Redondo Beach. He won entree through the old-boys network: His father, who ran security for an aircraft contractor and was once an FBI agent, had called in a favor.

In this series, Christopher Goffard revisits old crimes in Los Angeles and beyond, from the famous to the forgotten, the consequential to the obscure, diving into archives and the memories of those who were there.

Boyce made $140 a week at the defense plant and held down a second job tending bar. TRW investigators had performed only a perfunctory background check. They skipped his peers, who might have revealed his links to the drug culture and to Lee, who already had multiple drug busts and a serious cocaine habit — the white powder that would inspire his nickname.

In “The Falcon and the Snowman,” Robert Lindsey’s account of the case, the author describes Boyce beginning the day by popping amphetamines and winding down after a shift puffing a joint in the TRW parking lot. Falconry was his biggest passion. “Flying a falcon in exactly the same way that men had done centuries before Christ transplanted Chris into their time,” Lindsey wrote.

Boyce impressed his bosses and was soon cleared to enter the steel-doored fortress called the “black vault,” a classified sanctum where he was exposed to sensitive CIA communications pertaining to America’s network of espionage satellites. The satellites eavesdropped on Russian missiles and defense installations. Among the goals was to thwart a surprise nuclear attack.

Reading CIA communiques, Boyce didn’t like what he saw. Among its other sins, he decided, the U.S. government was deceiving its Australian allies by hiding satellite intelligence it had promised to share and meddling in the country’s elections.

“I just was in total disagreement with the whole direction of Western society,” Boyce told The Times many years later. He attributed his espionage opportunity to “synchronicity,” explaining: “How many kids can get a summer job working in an encrypted communications vault?”

Soon he made his life’s “biggest, dumbest decision.” He told his buddy Lee they might sell government secrets to the Soviets. Lee talked his way into the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City, where Russians fed him caviar and bought classified documents with the toast, “To peace.”

Lee’s KGB handlers devised protocols. When he wanted to meet, he would tape an X to lampposts at designated intersections around Mexico City.

For more than a year, thousands of classified documents flowed from the TRW complex to the Soviets, with Boyce sometimes smuggling them out in potted plants. In exchange, he and Lee received an estimated $70,000.

At parties, Lee showed off his miniature Minox camera and bragged that he was engaged in spycraft. In January 1977, desperate for money to finance a heroin deal, he flouted KGB instructions and appeared unannounced outside the Soviet Embassy. Mexican police thought he looked suspicious and arrested him.

He held an envelope with filmstrips documenting a U.S. satellite project called Pyramider. Under questioning, Lee revealed the name of his co-conspirator and childhood friend, who soon was also under arrest. Boyce had just returned from a hawk-trapping trip in the mountains.

The espionage trials of the two men presented special challenges for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The Carter administration was ready to pull the plug on the case if it meant airing too many secrets, but a strategy was devised: Prosecutors would focus on the Pyramider documents, which involved a system that never actually got off the ground.

Joel Levine, one of the assistant U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Boyce and Lee, said only a fraction of what they sold to the Soviets ever came out at trial.

“I was told these other projects should not be revealed. It’s too costly to our government, and you can’t base a prosecution on them either in whole or in part,” Levine said in a recent interview. “You just gotta stay away from it.”

For federal prosecutors in L.A., hanging over the case was the memory of a recent humiliation: the collapse of the Pentagon Papers trial, as a result of the Nixon administration’s attempt to bribe the presiding judge with a job. It had caught prosecutors by surprise.

“We were afraid it would ruin our reputation forever if something like that were to happen,” Levine said. “So we made it very, very clear right from the get-go that if we smelled something like that was afoot, we would walk into court and have the case dismissed on our own.”

The defendants had sharply different motives. Lee was in it for the money, Richard Stilz, one of the prosecutors, said in a recent interview. But “Boyce was totally ideology. He wanted to damage the United States government,” Stilz said. “He just hated this country, period.”

The defendants got separate trials. A rift that had been growing between them deepened with their mutually hostile defenses. Lee’s defense: Boyce had led him to believe he was working for the CIA, feeding misinformation to the Russians. Jurors convicted Lee of espionage, nonetheless, and a judge gave him a life term.

Boyce’s defense: Lee had blackmailed him into espionage by threatening to expose a letter he had written, while stoned on hashish, alleging secret knowledge of CIA malfeasance. Jurors convicted Boyce as well, and a judge gave him 40 years.

In January 1980, at a federal prison in Lompoc, Boyce hid in a drainpipe and sprinted to freedom over a fence. He was on the run for 19 months. He robbed banks in the Pacific Northwest until federal agents caught him outside a burger joint in Washington state.

He was convicted of bank robbery and got 28 more years. In 1985, the same year a popular film adaptation of “The Falcon and the Snowman” was released, Boyce testified on Capitol Hill about the despair attending a life of espionage.

“There was no thrill,” he said. “There was only depression, and a hopeless enslavement to an inhuman, uncaring foreign bureaucracy…. No American who has gone to the KGB has not come to regret it.”

He spoke of how easily he had been allowed to access classified material at TRW. “Security was a joke,” he said, describing regular Bacardi-fueled parties in the black vault. “We used the code destruction blender for making banana daiquiris and mai tais.”

Cait Mills was working as a paralegal in San Diego when she read the Lindsey book and became fascinated by the case. She thought Lee had been unfairly maligned, and she spent the next two decades fighting to win him parole.

She got letters of support from the prosecutors and the sentencing judge attesting that Lee had made strides toward rehabilitation. He had taken classes in prison and become a dental technician. He won parole in 1998.

She turned her attention to freeing Boyce, with whom she fell in love. She wrote to the Russians and asked how much value there had been in the stolen TRW documents and received a fax claiming it was useless. He got out in 2002, and they married. They later divorced but remain close. Both live in central Oregon.

Stilz maintains the damage to America was “enormous.”

“In a murder case, you have one victim and a person dies,” Stilz said. “In an espionage case, the whole country is a victim. We were so far advanced over the Russians in spy satellite technology. They leveled the playing field. That’s probably the most important point.”

He gives no credence to the Russian government’s claim that it derived no value from the secret information. “Of course they’d say that,” Stilz said. “What do you think they’d say? ‘Oh yeah, it allowed us to catch up with the United States in terms of spying.’ They’re not gonna say that.”

Cait Mills Boyce said that Boyce and Lee, childhood best friends, no longer speak, and that the silence between them wounds Boyce.

“He said, ‘I love that man; I always loved him. He was my best friend.’ It hurt him so badly.”

She said Boyce, now in his 70s, lives a solitary life and immerses himself in the world of falconry. “His entire life, and I kid you not, is falconry,” she said. “He will die with a falcon on his arm.”

Part of what pushed him into the world of espionage, she thinks, was the challenge. “I think his uncommon smarts led him down a whimsical path that ended up being a disastrous path, not just for him but for everybody involved,” she said.

PRINCESS Diana’s former bodyguard who protected princes William and Harry has died at the age of 63.

Lee Sansum, who served as a royal military police officer, was one of Diana’s bodyguards shortly before her death in 1997, escorting her during a family holiday to the French resort of Saint Tropez that year.

6

6

6

The former bodyguard’s wife announced the tragic news of Lee’s death in a post on Facebook on Monday, revealing he had died of a sudden heart attack.

Sharing a compilation of pictures of the couple throughout the years, she wrote: “Since meeting in 1998, Lee Sansum has been my soul mate, hero and most amazing man in my world.

“So I’m devastated to share that he is no longer with us. He had a fatal heart attack on Saturday morning at home.

“His huge presence will be missed around the world as much as it is in our household although his capacity for love, and the life skills he has shared have left a legacy that will never be lost.

“He’s forever loved and will always be with us

“I love you more than ever ‘My Lovely Lee’.”

On top of being a bodyguard for Diana and her kids, father-of-six Lee also served as a bodyguard for the late Alex Salmond, while he was serving as First Minister of Scotland in 2014.

Lee, who held black belts in karate, jujitsu and kick-boxing, was nicknamed “Rambo” by Diana and was no stranger to the spotlight.

He also loyally protected stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Nicole Kidman, and Tom Cruise during his career.

At the time of Diana’s tragic death in 1997, Lee was serving as part of the protection team for Mohamed Al-Fayed – the father of her then partner Dodi.

He had been assigned to look after Diana and her young sons Prince William and Prince Harry during their stay at Al-Fayad’s 30-bedroom villa in Saint Tropez in the summer of 1997.

This was tragically just one month before Diana died in a Paris car crash, alongside Dodi.

Lee had released a book in 2022 – called The Bodyguard – in which he explored his close relationship with Diana and the young princes, particularly Harry.

He revealed how he had tried to teach the two boys kickboxing but that they were too “apprehensive” to it.

6

6

6

However, he managed to succeed in teaching Harry how to drive a jet ski – even helping him to soak photographers who were waiting to snap a picture of the young prince on holiday.

For his loyal and kind services on the trip, he was given a touching thank you letter by Diana.

In it, she wrote that she was grateful for the “magical ten days [which] would not have been possible without your invaluable contribution”.

The former bodyguard also revealed that Diana had turned to him for comfort, even crying on his shoulder, after her fashion designer friend Gianni Versace had been fatally shot outside his home in July 1997.

Lee, born in Burnley, Lancashire, said Diana would chat to him every day after she woke up at 7am – adding that she was worried about the safety of her own life.

He added that Diana was an “amazing woman”, saying: “She cared a great deal. She never said a bad word about anyone.”

25 years following her death, Lee also revealed how he could have been in the car with the princess on the day she died.

Speaking in a 2022 interview, he said: “It could have been me in that car.

“We drew straws to see who would be accompanying Trevor [Rees-Jones] that weekend.

“When I learned they were not wearing seatbelts in the crash I understood why they didn’t survive.

“I always insisted on it.”

Lee claimed Diana would still be alive if he had been on duty the night she died in a car crash.

The ex-Royal Military Policeman and “international security consultant” explained it was standard practice for the family to wear seatbelts – an order which had been sent down by Mohamed Al-Fayed.

When Diana, Dodi, and driver Henri Paul crashed and tragically died, none were wearing seatbelts.

Lee had begun his service as a military police officer in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

He said: “I was looking after people in witness protection. I learnt my craft in Northern Ireland.”

After leaving the Army he started working as a civilian bodyguard, known in the industry as The Circuit.

A friend then recommended him to billionaire businessman Al-Fayed, who was so impressed by Lee that the bodyguard said he “became like family”.

Alyssa Lee of El Camino Real has achieved something few volleyball coaches can claim.

With El Camino Real’s boys team winning the City Section Open Division championship on Saturday after an upset over No. 1-seeded Venice, Lee has won City titles coaching El Camino Real’s boys, girls and beach volleyball teams, the Triple Crown of volleyball coaching.

“That’s very impressive,” said Granada Hills coach Tom Harp, who had Lee on his girls’ team when she graduated in 2009.

Harp, a future Hall of Fame coach in the City Section, said Lee is calm and comfortable on the bench and knows strategy well.

El Camino Real opens the state playoffs on Tuesday in Division 2 with a home game against Escondido Classical Academy.

Mira Costa is seeded No. 1 in Division 1…

The CIF Southern California tennis championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Claremont Club. Here’s the bracket…

Southern Section golf team championships are set for Monday and Tuesday. The individual championship will be Thursday. The City Section championships are Wednesday at Harding Golf Course.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t expect to be at the forefront of the artificial intelligence debate in Hollywood. But she didn’t have a choice.

The Oscar-winning actor recently called out Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on social media, saying the company ignored her requests to take down a fake AI-generated advertisement on Instagram that had been on the platform for months.

The ad, which used footage from an interview Curtis gave to MSNBC about January’s Los Angeles area wildfires, manipulated her voice to make it appear that she was endorsing a dental product, Curtis said.

“I was not looking to become the poster child of internet fakery, and I’m certainly not the first,” Curtis told The Times by phone Tuesday morning.

The ad has since been removed.

What happened to Curtis is part of a larger issue actors are dealing with amid the rise of generative AI technology, which has allowed their images and voices to be altered in ways they haven’t authorized. Those changes can be wildly misleading.

Images and likenesses of celebrities including Tom Hanks, Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson have been manipulated through AI to promote products and ideas they never actually endorsed.

AI technology has made it easier for people to make these fake videos, which can proliferate online at a speed that is challenging for social media platforms to take down. Some are calling on social media firms to do more to police misinformation on their platforms.

“We are standing at the turning point, and I think we need to take some action,” Curtis said.

Curtis first became aware of the fake AI ad about a month and a half ago when a friend asked her about the video. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Halloween” actor then flagged the ad for her agents, lawyers and publicists, who directed her to send a cease and desist letter to Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

Nothing happened.

“It’s like a vacuum,” Curtis said. “There are no people. You can’t reach anybody. You have an email, you send an email, you never get anything back.”

Two weeks later, another friend flagged the same fake AI video. When Curtis wrote to her team, they assured her they went through the proper channels and they did everything they could do, she said.

“I went through the proper channels,” Curtis said. “There should be a methodology to this. I understand there’s going to be a misuse of this stuff, but then there’s no avenue of getting any satisfaction. So then it’s lawlessness, because if you have no way of rectifying it, what do you do?”

Curtis was concerned about the nefarious ways that people could alter the voices and images of other people, including Pope Leo XIV, who has identified AI as one of the challenges facing humanity. What if someone used AI to attribute ideas to the pope that he didn’t actually support?

Inspired by the danger of that possibility, she made her scathing Instagram post, tagging Zuckerberg, after she was unable to directly message him.

“My name is Jamie Lee Curtis and I have gone through every proper channel to ask you and your team to take down this totally AI fake commercial for some bulls— that I didn’t endorse,” Curtis wrote in her post on Monday. “… I’ve been told that if I ask you directly, maybe you will encourage your team to police it and remove it.”

The post generated more than 55,000 likes.

“I’ve done commercials for people all my life, so if they can make a fake commercial with me, that hurts my brand,” Curtis said in an interview. “If my brand is authenticity, you’re co-opting my brand for nefarious gains in the future.”

After she posted, a neighbor shared with her an email of someone at Meta who could help her. Curtis emailed that person (whom she declined to name), copied her team and attached the Instagram posts. Within an hour of sending the email, the fake AI ad was taken down, Curtis said.

“It worked!” Curtis wrote on Instagram on Monday in all caps. “Yay internet! Shame has [its] value! Thanks all who chimed in and helped rectify!”

Meta on Monday confirmed the fake ad was taken down.

“They violate our policies prohibiting fraud, scams and deceptive practices,” said Meta spokesman Andy Stone in an email.

As the technology continues to become more widely available, there are efforts underway at tech companies to identify AI-generated content and to take down material that violates standards.

Organizations like actors guild SAG-AFTRA are also advocating for more laws that address AI, including deep fakes. Both the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 hinged in part on demands for more protections against job losses from AI.

Curtis said she would have wanted the fake AI ad to be taken down immediately and would like to see technology companies, not just Meta, come up with safeguards and direct access to people policing “this wild, wild west called the internet.”

“It got the attention, but I’m also a public figure,” Curtis said. “So how does someone who’s not a public figure get any satisfaction? I want to represent everyone. I don’t want it to just be celebrities. I wanted to use that as an example to say this is wrong.”

Authors: Darynaufal Mulyaman and Abdullah Akbar Rafsanjani*

In June 2025, South Korea will prepare to hold elections, and there is a figure who is in the political spotlight, namely Lee Jae-myung. He is the leading candidate of the Democratic Party in South Korea and represents a new direction of pragmatic progressivism based on the socio-economic reality of society and not an idealistic and rhetorical one. His views on inter-Korean relations, foreign policy, and his approach to the United States and China reflect an effort to balance national identity with geopolitical realities. If you look back at history, in the history of politics in South Korea, there are two big names that show or define progressivism, namely Kim Dae-jung and Moon Jae-in.

Both figures have left a legacy through diplomacy and careful engagement with North Korea. However, Lee Jae-myung comes with a different approach; he still brings the spirit of peace, but the style he carries is a more populist, more grounded style, and his commitment to inter-Korean peace has not diminished. With the presence of Lee Jae-myung as a candidate, it signals a return to building engagement with North Korea. Lee Jae-myung offers more policies, such as conditional sanctions relief, which is linked to verifiable denuclearization, where sanctions will be eased if North Korea shows real and verified steps in the denuclearization process. What Lee Jae-myung is doing is completely different from Kim Dae-jung’s “Sunshine Policy,” which is more based on trust and reconciliation without harsh conditions.

At the same time, however, his economic initiatives, such as reviving joint tourism projects, show continuity with the Moon Jae-in era with thawed relations and cultural diplomacy. Economic projects such as joint tourism, cultural exchange, and cross-border cooperation still remain part of Lee Jae-myung’s vision. He believes that economic stability and social interaction can be a stepping stone to broader peace. However, what sets Lee Jae-myung apart is his distinctive voice in the broader geopolitical discourse and the most prominent aspect of Lee Jae-myung’s foreign policy, namely his vision to make South Korea a strategically autonomous country.

He argued that South Korea should not choose between Washington and Beijing. In a world that is now polarized between the United States and China, Lee Jae-myung offers a pragmatic, non-aligned approach, not as a passive neutral, but as an active position to balance South Korea’s national interests amid the pressures of the world’s two major powers. This is a bold vision because instead of choosing one of the camps to approach, Lee Jae-myung is pushing for policies that can better allow South Korea to maintain close relations with the United States, especially in the defense-security fields, such as through military alliances and defense system development. And at the same time, it continues to establish relations and economic cooperation with China, which is South Korea’s main trading partner. So this is a bold vision because it recognizes the strategic needs of the U.S. alliance and the gravity of China’s economy.

This approach is very different from conservative governments that are more inclined towards the United States as a whole or even from previous liberal strategies that were sometimes too soft on China. In Lee Jae-myung’s vision, diplomacy is a tool to maintain sovereignty in decisions and not a tool to fully conform to the will of foreign powers. In the midst of new tensions and a global realignment, Lee Jae-myung’s candidacy provides him with a sobering reminder that diplomacy works best not when chasing headlines, but when building trust done slowly. With this approach, Lee can also strengthen South Korea’s position at the regional level, especially through East Asia initiatives that encourage collaboration between countries on energy, technology, and climate change issues. In terms of rich communication, when compared to Moon Jae-in, who tends to be calm and diplomatic, Lee Jae-myung has a more aggressive and approachable communication style than Moon Jae-in. Then, compared to Kim Dae-jung, Lee Jae-myung is more grounded in working-class reality than Kim Dae-jung. Although their communication styles are different, their ambition to bring peace and dignity to the Korean Peninsula is clearly in line with theirs.

Although the style and approach brought are new, the ambition is seen in line with Lee Jae-myung, who does not necessarily reject the legacy of his predecessors to create peace on the Korean peninsula. From Kim Dae-jung, he has inherited the spirit of peace and the recognition that the problems facing Korea cannot be solved by violence. And through Moon Jae-in, Lee Jae-myung continues his efforts to include elements of cultural engagement and economic diplomacy as a tool to build greater trust.

Lee Jae-myung has realized that the South Korean people today are no longer satisfied with symbolism in politics. The South Korean people want real results, both in domestic affairs and foreign relations, especially between the Koreas. Therefore, Lee Jae-myung learns from their weaknesses. The idealism that exists in Kim Dae-jung is often used by North Korea without good faith to repay trust. And Moon Jae-in’s approach, which tends to be too diplomatic, is often criticized for being too slow and not pressuring the opponent enough. So, seeing from this, Lee Jae-myung is more of an approach that can be evaluated and measured, such as verified denuclearization, cross-border economic projects with success indicators, and diplomacy that is open but full of calculations. Therefore, his vision is not idealism, but a steady and deliberate movement towards peace.

Amid the ongoing turmoil and tensions on the Korean peninsula, the trade war between the two great powers, and the rising nationalism in many countries, the presence of figures such as Lee Jae-myung provides a more grounded alternative. Lee Jae-myung is not an idealistic hero but a technocrat who understands the importance of strategy and public communication; this style has made him beloved by many young voters and the working class. Lee Jae-myung’s vision does not dream of instant peace or dramatic reunification, but Lee offers a peace built gradually through small steps and careful calculations and based on trust that is built and tested consistently.

It is a pragmatic progressivism that sees the reality of what is happening in society and remains faithful to the principle that progress is only possible if the small people become the center of determining the direction of policy. In this context, Lee placed the people at the center to determine the direction of policy and did not place the elites or elite-centric ones who often ignored the needs and voices of ordinary citizens. Because, according to Lee, to achieve peace and especially security, it is not only about weapon systems such as missiles or soldiers but also about jobs in border areas and ensuring price stability for the South Korean people so that with development that leads to the economy, stability will be created.

This is what finally made Lee Jae-myung think about more often voicing policies of wealth redistribution, reducing inequality in society, and protection for vulnerable groups as part of achieving diplomacy and national security strategies. Therefore, pragmatic Progressivism is not trapped by moral rhetoric but is faithful to the principle that progress can be achieved or is possible if the people become the center to determine the direction of policy. And with the pragmatic progressivism carried by Lee Jae-myung, he can bring together the spirit of healthy change with a political vision that is not only ideal but also capable of being implemented in the complex realities that occur in today’s world.

*Abdullah Akbar Rafsanjani is a researcher assistant of CEO Research. Research interests are around security issues and foreign relations.