SEOUL — South Korea's prime minister and senior presidential officials tendered their resignation en masse on Thursday, following the country's conservative ruling party's crushing defeat in parliamentary elections, media reports said.
Wednesday's election results dealt a major political blow to President Yun Seok-Yeol, setting her back on domestic policy and leaving her to face increased political attacks by her liberal opponents during her remaining three years in office.
According to reports by Yonhap News and other South Korean media, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and top advisors to Yun have submitted their resignations. Yun's office did not immediately formally confirm the report.
At a separate press conference, Han Dong-hoon, leader of the ruling People's Power Party, also said he would resign to take responsibility for the election defeat.
With most votes counted, the main opposition Democratic Party and its satellite parties appear to have won a total of 175 seats in the 300-member parliament. Another small liberal opposition party was expected to win 12 seats under the proportional representation system, according to a tally by South Korean media.
Yun's ruling People's Power Party and its satellite parties were expected to win 109 seats.
Final official results are expected to be announced later Thursday.
But while the result means liberal opposition forces will expand their control of Congress, they are unlikely to win the 200-seat supermajority that would give them legislative power to override a veto and impeach the president.
Wednesday's election was widely seen as an interim vote of confidence for Yun, a former top prosecutor who took office in 2022 for a five-year term.
He has strongly promoted increased cooperation between the United States and Japan as a way to address tough challenges that combine security and economic issues. However, Yun has been plagued by low domestic approval ratings and restrictions on his main policy platform by a parliament dominated by liberal opposition parties.
