South Korea’s main opposition party selects presidential candidate

The Democratic Party’s former leader Lee Jae-myung will now run for the presidency (Lee Jin-man/AP)

South Korea’s main liberal opposition party has tapped its former leader Lee Jae-myung as presidential candidate in the upcoming election.

The Democratic Party said Mr Lee had won nearly 90% of the votes cast during the party’s primary that ended on Sunday, defeating two competitors.

The election on June 3 is to replace the recently ousted conservative president Yoon Suk Yeol.

Mr Lee lost the 2022 election to Mr Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously removed Mr Yoon from office earlier this month, ending his tumultuous presidency and setting up a new election, four months after he threw the nation into turmoil with an ill-fated declaration of martial law.