South Korean voters are choosing a new president to replace Yoon Suk-Yeol, who was impeached and removed from the office for his brief and bad-fated legal bid in December.

The rapid election on June 3 is crucial, with an impact on South Korea's democratic future and its ties with China, the United States and its nuclear-weapon neighbour North Korea.

The winner will serve a five-year term, facing the impact of a settlement of martial law order, which lasted for six hours but released political chaos within six months, including massive protests, riots in court and three guards.

The new president must also address the deepening downturn and manage tariff negotiations with the United States, which imposes a 25% tax on key exports such as steel, aluminum and automobiles.

Here's what you need to know about the June 3 poll:

Who is the candidate?

There are six candidates on the ballot, but the main competitors are Lee Jae-Myung of the Democratic Party of South Korea (DP), and Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People's Power Party (PPP).

Who is expected to win?

Lee, 61, is a human rights lawyer-turned-politician and a clear leader.

A Gallup South Korean poll showed 49% of respondents favored the liberal candidate, while 36% said they would vote for Kim, 73, a staunch Conservative Party who served as labor secretary in the Yoon government.

Lee Jun-Seok of the Conservative New Reform Party ranked third at 9%.

What are the key issues?

Yuan’s martial arts bids cast a shadow in the competition.

This has caused Lee to lose his last election in 2022 and he returns to the presidency.

Opposition leaders played a role in thwarting the president’s plans. On December 3, when the Yuan declared martial law - in order to revoke the Democratic-led parliament, which he portrayed as "anti-state" and "criminals", Lee rushed to the National Assembly and climbed up the walls of the building to avoid hundreds of armed forces deployed there. His exploitation campaign urges supporters to come to Parliament and prevents arrests of legislators.

Despite the lockdown of the troops, enough lawmakers managed to enter parliament and vote to end martial law. The conference continued to be ammunition on December 14.

Yoon Suk-Yeol and his Impotence Martial Arts and their Impotence Martial Arts and their Impotence Martial Arts Academy Researcher Yoon Suk-Yeol and his Impotence Martial Arts Academy declared martial law, and this election would not happen. "These questions attract all other problems like vortex. Everything else is trivial. ”

During the campaign, Lee promised to bring anyone involved in Yoon Won's failure to justice, and promised to put more stringent control over the president's ability to declare martial law.

Candidates stand where martial law attempts

Opposition leader Lee also proposed a constitutional change to introduce four-year, two-term positions - currently, South Korea's president only allows a single term of five years. Lee also took the initiative to argue for the runoff system of the presidential election that if no candidates receive 50% of the universal vote, the first two candidates in the second round will accept each other.

"A four-year, two-year presidency will allow for mid-term assessments of the government, thus enhancing responsibility," he wrote on Facebook. "At the same time, adopting a runoff electoral system will enhance the legitimacy of democratic governance and help reduce unnecessary social conflict."

Kim Jong Il of PPP has accepted Lee's proposal to allow two presidency by the constitutional amendment, but recommends shortening each term to three years.

However, Yoon's martial arts bid has put PPP in crisis and chaos.

Infighting plagued the party's party in trying to choose the successor to the impeach president. Although Kim Jong Il won the party's primary election, his leaders tried to replace him with former Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo. On the eve of the party's campaign, they disqualified Kim Jong Il's election, only to restore his candidacy after party members opposed the move.

Bong of Yonsei University said the conservative camps fought against Yoon's decree and the division at the cost of the.

"Kim Moon-soo has not clearly defined his position as a declaration of martial law," Bon said. "He has not distanced himself from the estate of the Lord, but at the same time, he has not yet made it clear whether he believes martial law is an unconstitutional act. Therefore, the PPP really does not have enough energy to mobilize its support base."

Still, King appears to have eroded more than 20% of the gap with Lee at the start of the campaign.

But he failed to convince third-place contender Lee Jun-Seok to give up his bid and return to PPP to improve its chances. Lee, 40, said Tuesday it will "merge candidates" with "those responsible for emergency martial law."

What about foreign policy?

Although policy debate has regressed, the election results may redirect South Korea’s approach to North Korea. Technically, the two neighbors were in a state of war, and the Korean War of 1950-1953 ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, and their links were at a new low.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a rewrite of his country's constitution to eliminate the long-term goal of a unified war state and described Seoul as "the unchanging main enemy." Pyongyang also cut off communication lines, and the two countries clashed on balloons carrying garbage and propaganda and drones.

Lee, the Democratic Party, promised that if elected, would ease tensions, including restoring the military hotline and working to maintain the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula.

However, Kim has supported Yin's hard-line approach and promised to ensure "preemptive deterrence" through tools such as ballistic missiles and redeployment of US tactical nuclear weapons. He said he would also seek the country's path to pursuing nuclear weapons by ensuring the right to reprocess nuclear fuel, a critical step towards building atomic weapons.

The two candidates also differ in the United States’ most important security allies and the way China is its largest trading partner.

Lee, who champions what he calls a pragmatic foreign policy, said it is crucial to maintain a South Korea-US alliance and engage in security cooperation with Japan. However, he has promised to prioritize "national interests" and said "no need to confront China or Russia unnecessarily."

Meanwhile, Kim questioned Lee's commitment to the Southern South Korean Alliance and promised that he would immediately hold a summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump if he chose to discuss tariffs.

"I have a very friendly and trusting relationship," King said.

He also expressed his willingness to discuss sharing more costs of stationing U.S. troops in the country, something Trump has asked for for years.

Lee Sung Yoon, a member of the board of directors of North Korea's Human Rights Commission, described the policy differences between rival camps as "immutable" and referred to the Democratic Party's Lee's early comments because some believe he is soft to China and Russia.

Lee said in the past that South Korea should not participate in China's posture towards Taiwan, as long as it is thankful to Beijing and Taiwan and avoid conflicts. He is a political newbie and says unfortunate things. ”

Analysts say Lee had tried to back down some of his statements during the campaign to attract more modest voters.

But, “I dare guess, people sitting in the Power Council in Washington, D.C., Tokyo or Kiev, Ukraine are not overly excited about the prospects of the Lee government.”

When will we know the result?

Koreans overseas have voted and voted early on Thursday and Friday. A large number of people conducted early votes, including two front-runners.

According to the National Election Commission, about 44.4 million people in the country are eligible to vote. On an election day on a public holiday, the polling station will be open at 6 a.m. GMT and will be closed at 8 p.m. (20:00 GMT).

The count will begin immediately and the winner will be known that night or in the early hours of the next day. Candidates who get the most votes will be considered winners, even if they do not win 50% of the votes.