South Korea's prime minister offers to resign after heavy defeat in parliamentary elections

In the recent South Korean parliamentary elections, the Democratic Party (DP) and its satellite liberal party are projected to have won a combined total of at least 185 seats out of the 300 available, with 99.99% of the votes counted. A splinter liberal party allied with the DP was expected to take at least 10 seats. The incumbent President Yoon Suk-yeol won a seat in Incheon but faces challenges such as a weak economy and an increasingly aggressive North Korea. Senior presidential secretaries, including Han Dong-hoon, and the prime minister, Han Duk-soo, have offered to resign. The high turnout was 67%, the highest ever recorded for a parliamentary election in South Korea. This result will likely give the liberal opposition control of parliament until after Yoon completes his term in 2027, potentially weakening his grip on the ruling party and hindering his domestic agenda.