An elected autocracy in the making?

After six months of excruciating political uncertainty and public anxiety, South Korea has ushered in a new era with the election of President Lee Jaemyung on Wednesday.

- LEE BYUNG-JONG

The initial response has been broadly positive: The stock market surged, and allies such as Japan and the US offered swift messages of support and continued cooperation. Lee's decisive victory—garnering over 17 million votes, the most for any Korean president—gives him a strong and clear mandate to pursue his policy agenda.

However, the scale of Lee's victory could also be cause for concern. With his Democratic Party of Korea holding an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, the Lee administration may be tempted to overextend its executive power. The judiciary, increasingly seen as vulnerable to public pressure, may not be able to serve as an effective check. Lee's firm control over his party, filled with his loyalists, further eliminates internal constraints, heightening fears of a concentration of power.

The first signs of potential executive overreach appeared on day one of Lee's presidency, when the ruling party put forward a bill to expand the number of Supreme Court justices from 14 to as many as 30. This proposal, floated even before the election following the Court's ruling against Lee for election law violations, is officially framed as a response to the judiciary's heavy caseload. Yet critics argue it is a thinly veiled attempt to stack the Court with pro-government justices.