The Brief

SEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans are heading to the polls on Tuesday to pick a new president, in an election widely seen as a referendum on President Yoon Suk Yeol and the governing conservative party.

Polls will open across the country at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning (2 p.m. PT on Monday). Candidate Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party is expected to win. He has mostly kept a double-digit lead in polls over his conservative rival, Kim Moon-soo, throughout the race.

But whoever is elected, the new president will have little time for celebration.

The election comes nearly two months after President Yoon was removed from office after his impeachment for declaring martial law in the country. The intense confrontation both in the South Korean Parliament and among the public over Yoon's fateful act has aggravated the country's political polarization and shaken South Koreans' confidence in their democracy.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic Party, gestures onstage on Monday during his final election campaign event ahead of Tuesday's presidential election in Seoul.

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And during the leadership vacuum, tariff threats from the Trump administration have intensified, and North Korea has grown closer with Russia.

New president to face deeply polarized country

Both of the leading candidates from the two major parties have pledged to unite the nation.

But they each represent South Korea's deepening division themselves.

Front-runner Lee Jae-myung has clashed with Yoon's government as leader of the opposition, after closely losing to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election. Yoon vetoed a record number of bills passed by the opposition-controlled parliament, and Lee's party impeached a series of government officials.

After Yoon declared martial law in December, Lee led his party in overturning it and eventually impeaching Yoon.

He has called this election "a decision between a return of insurrectionists and a rebirth into a new democratic republic."

His rival Kim, who served as Yoon's labor minister, has opposed the former president's impeachment and resisted calls to cut ties with him.

In an emergency parliamentary session in December, when an opposition lawmaker demanded that Yoon's Cabinet members apologize to the nation over the martial law declaration, Kim was the only one who refused to stand up and bow down.

Presidential candidate Kim Moon-Soo of the People Power Party speaks on Sunday during a campaign rally ahead of the presidential election, in Seoul, South Korea.

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Conservative voters' support for Kim as their presidential candidate has since soared, even as his popularity among the general public in early polls lagged behind other aspiring conservative candidates who were more critical of Yoon.

"Emotional polarization" grips South Korean public, analysts say 

"South Korean society became increasingly polarized through the three years of the Yoon administration and the five years of the previous administration," Heo Jinjae, the research director of public opinion analysis at Gallup Korea, said at a recent news conference.

In 2016, South Korea impeached another conservative president over charges of corruption and bribery.

Nearly half of the governing party lawmakers voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye then. But this time, just over 10% did, "even as the reasons for Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment were much more serious than Park Geun-hye's," says Ha Shang Eung, a political scientist at Sogang University in Seoul.

The public was also less united this time. Around 80% of South Koreans supported Park's impeachment, according to polls, but only around 60% wanted to impeach Yoon.

And the president's supporters reacted more aggressively this time. In January, when a court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon, more than 100 of his supporters smashed the court's windows and stormed inside.

Experts say South Korea's polarization is more emotional than ideological.

"It's not a matter of positions on an issue or a policy. People just hate the other side. It's an emotional polarization. So it becomes a clash between us versus them, the good versus the bad," says politics professor Yoo Sung-jin of Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

In a post-election survey by Gallup Korea in 2022, "resentment of the other candidate" was among the top reasons voters chose one of the two main candidates.

Yoo says political parties have increasingly relied on harsher rhetoric and extreme positions to appeal to more hard-line supporters.

On the campaign trail, the conservative candidate Kim has echoed the impeached president's accusations of the opposition as "pro-communist," saying he will "punish" them for "trying to turn this great democratic country into something worse than Hitler, Kim Jong Un, Stalin, and Xi Jinping's country."

Yoon's staunch followers have also repeated his unfounded allegations of election fraud and judicial bias.

Meanwhile, South Koreans' trust in democracy has declined.

In a recent survey by the Seoul-based think tank East Asia Institute, over 30% of people expressed doubts about election fairness. And among supporters of the governing party, 30% said dictatorship can be better than democracy.

Supporters of South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party wait for him to come for a campaign rally on Monday in Seoul, South Korea.

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Favorite faces questions over policies, earlier accusations

Since the presidential campaign began, the liberal candidate Lee has tried to woo more moderate voters, stressing pragmatism and national interest. He even said that his party is a "center-right party."

He has also vowed to advance South Korea's alliance with the United States and continue its trilateral cooperation with Japan, appearing to soothe conservative voters' concerns about his foreign and security policy positions.

At the same time, he has distanced himself from a more progressive agenda, such as enacting an anti-discrimination bill and amending the rape law to include nonconsensual sex.

But if he is elected as expected, it remains to be seen whether his rightward policy shifts will help bridge the emotional gap with his fiercest critics.

In a recent poll, a majority of respondents said they find Lee "unlikeable." The response was particularly strong among young men and older voters — groups that have supported the impeached president the most.

Lee also has unresolved questions about several court trials he is facing over charges of corruption and election law violations, which he has claimed are politically motivated.

And if elected, he would need to confront these challenges quickly. The president-elect of this snap election immediately assumes the position, with a simplified inauguration ceremony and no transition period.
Copyright 2025 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.