S. Korea's opposition ex-leader Lee Jae-myung announces bid for presidency

Lee Jae-myung, ex-leader of South Korea's main liberal opposition Democratic Party, announced his bid for a snap presidential election via a video message on Thursday.

Lee resigned as party leader on Wednesday amid widespread expectations for his presidential run.

A snap presidential election was set for June 3 following the constitutional court's removal of former President Yoon Suk-yeol from office on April 4 over Yoon's short-lived martial law imposition last December.

Lee, who lost the 2022 presidential election to Yoon by the country's narrowest margin, had been broadly seen as the most powerful contender for the snap election.

According to a survey by local pollster Flower, 49.6 percent said they will vote for the Democratic Party's candidate in the next presidential election, while 29.5 percent were in favor of the ruling People Power Party's candidate.

Lee was the most favored as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate with a support rate of 85.5 percent.

The result was based on a poll of 3,004 voters conducted from March 17 to 20. It had a plus and minus 1.8 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.