Lee Jae-Myung's arduous path to South Korea's presidency reflects the country's stratosphere from grinding poverty to one of the world's leading economies.

Lee, a scandal-prone school dropout lawyer, was born on a landslide in 1963, with South Korea's GDP per capita comparable to that of sub-Saharan African countries.

In fact, South Korea is so poor that Lee's exact birthday is a mystery-his parents, like many families alerted the high mortality rates of the sky in that era, were only registered for birth in about a year.

Yet, even by the standards of the day, Lee’s early days were characterized by deprivation and adversity, including tenure as a minor factory worker.

Lee, the standard bearer of the left-leaning Democrats, is known for his populist and outspoken style, often starting with the humility that shapes his progressive beliefs.

"Poverty is not a sin, but I am always particularly sensitive to the injustice experienced by poverty," Lee said in his 2022 speech.

“The reason I am politically now is to help people help people to escape poverty and despair by building a fair society and a world of hope.”

Lee, one in five of his seven children, dropped out of school as a teenager and moved to the satellite city of Seongnam, Seoul, and worked on jobs to support his family.

At the age of 15, Lee was injured in an accident in which he made baseball gloves in a factory, which made him permanently unable to straighten his left arm.

Despite years of lack of formal education, Lee graduated from middle school and high school through exams outside of study hours.

In 1982, he was admitted to Chung-ang University in Seoul to study law and continued to pass the bar exam four years later.

During his legal career, Lee was known for supporting the rights of the weak, including victims of industrial accidents and residents facing eviction due to urban reconstruction projects.

Lee made his first move into politics in 2006, bidding with a failed appeal, and he then failed in the city's parliamentary seat two years later.

In 2010, he finally won the Zongnan mayoral election in his second attempt and won reelection four years later.

From 2018 to 2021, Lee served as Governor Gyeonggi, the most populous governor around Seoul.

As mayor and governor, Lee has attracted the attention of his direct voters by introducing a range of populist-flavored economic policies, including limited universal basic income.

After serving as governor, Lee entered the national stage in the 2022 presidential election, losing to Yoon Suk-Yeol with 0.73% of the vote, the narrowest difference in South Korean history.

Despite a series of political and personal scandals that ultimately reached its finale in at least five legal cases, Lee led the Democrats to one of their best results in last year’s parliamentary elections, occupying 173 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

After Yoon impeachment and removal from the presidential office after briefly declared martial law in December, Lee received a party nomination without serious challenges, receiving nearly 90% of the junior vote.

"His communication style is direct and direct, and he is keenly aware of social and political trends, a qualities rare among his generation of politicians," Lee Myung-Hee, a South Korean political expert at Michigan State University, told Al Jazeera.

“However, this direct communication sometimes hinders his political progress because it can easily offend his opponent.”

In his campaign, Lee played his own certificate of progress, favoring a more pragmatic role and a moderate iteration of the populist economic agenda, which led to him raising his national popularity.

Lee's victory was rarely suspected in the weeks of the vote, and his closest rival, Kim Moon-soo, is Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People's Power Party, often trailing 20 points in polls.

"Progressive Pragmatist"

As president, Lee has pledged to prioritize the economy, and has proposed a significant boost to AI investment, introduced four and a half days of work week and deducted tax breaks from parents proportional to the number of children they have.

On diplomatic matters, he has committed to pushing its ultimate denuclearization to conform to the traditional Democratic stance and maintaining the U.S.-Curia security alliance without alienating China and Russia.

"I call him a progressive pragmatist. I don't think he sticks to any consistent progressive lines, even conservative lines," Yong-Chool Ha, director of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Washington, told Jazeera.

"Critics call him a manipulator; his supporters call him a flexible one," Ha said.

“I would say he is a survivor.”

Although Lee will enter the office with the support of a majority in the National Assembly, he will be responsible for the administration of a country that was deeply polarized and abandoned after Yoon's impeachment.

"The political landscape of South Korea remains highly polarized and confrontational, and his ability in this environment is crucial to his success," said Michigan State University professor Lee.

Lee will also have to drive in an international environment shaped by the war between Gaza and Ukraine, great power competition and the shaping of US President Donald Trump's major restructuring of international trade.

Personally, his election came after two failed presidency, marking an unusual comeback suitable for opposing his origin story, which fueled his rise.

Lee has been facing five criminal lawsuits, including allegations of violations of election laws and breach of trust related to the land corruption scandal.

After being elected, Lee almost certainly avoided a trial during his five-year term.

Under the South Korean Constitution, the current president enjoys immunity from prosecution in the case of uprising or treason – despite disputes among legal scholars regarding whether protection extends to litigation already underway.

To disambiguate, the Democrats passed an amendment to the Criminal Code last month, stating that criminal proceedings against those elected to the president must be suspended until the end of their term.