Both Lee and conservative Kim pledged change for a country deeply scarred by a shock martial law briefly imposed by former leader Yoon Suk Yeol.

South Korea’s main conservative candidate Kim Moon Soo has conceded defeat in the presidential election. Kim, the candidate of the People Power Party, told a news conference early Wednesday that he “humbly accepts (the) people’s choice” and congratulates his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung for winning the election.

When his conservative South Korean party bowed to show remorse for ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol's disastrous martial law decree, Kim Moon-soo sat alone and resolute in symbolic non-apology. Kim offered his first apology "to the people suffering from the consequences of martial law" last month.