North Korea's state media reports on Lee's presidential win for 1st time
President Lee Jae-myung speaks at an economic emergency meeting at the presidential office in central Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
North Korea's state media on Thursday reported on the outcome of South Korea's presidential election for the first time, saying that Lee Jae-myung was elected as South Korea's new leader.
South Korea held the presidential election on June 3, two months after the former president was ousted over his martial law bid in December, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, referring to former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The KCNA briefly said Lee, a candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, was elected as South Korea's president.
The Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper catering to domestic readers, also carried the related report, two days after the election was held.
It marked the first time that North Korea has reported on South Korea's latest presidential election. The North has not mentioned the South Korean political situation following Yoon's ouster.
In the past, North Korea's propaganda outlets issued criticism over South Korea's presidential elections and its politics.
But North Korea appears to have refrained from commenting on the South's political situation after its leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in late 2023, according to experts.
Two days after the presidential election in 2022, North Korea reported on Yoon's election win while calling him the candidate from the conservative opposition party.
In 2017, the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper based in Japan, carried a report on former liberal President Moon Jae-in's victory, a day after the presidential election.
It took seven days for the North to report on the election of former conservative President Lee Myung-bak in 2007.
In 2012, North Korea reported on former President Park Geun-hye's election two days after the vote, simply saying that the candidate from the Saenuri Party was elected by a thin margin without referring to her name.