Yoon spends 40.8 billion won, Lee 43.8 billion won on presidential campaign
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, left, and Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of the Korea (DPK) / Yonhap
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol spent 40.8 billion won ($33.3 million) on his official presidential election campaign, while his main rival Lee Jae-myung spent 43.8 billion won, the National Election Commission said Tuesday.
Yoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) won the nation's closest presidential election on March 9, beating Lee of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) by 0.73 percentage point.
By law, the election watchdog is required to fully reimburse the expenses if the candidate wins more than 15 percent of all eligible votes cast.
Candidates with less than 15 percent but more than 10 percent of all votes will be reimbursed 50 percent of their costs, while those with less than 10 percent will get nothing.
As Yoon had 48.56 percent of the vote against Lee's 47.83 percent, both the PPP and the DPK can fully receive their campaign spending.
Compared with campaign costs for the 2017 presidential election, the PPP's spending for the March election rose by 6.7 billion won, while the DP's spending fell by 4.3 billion won. (Yonhap)