PPP's Kim accepts defeat, waits for Lee Jae-myung to finish victory speech

With that being said, the People Power Party's Kim Moon-soo will now have to suffer the bitter failure and accept the loss.

He kept his acceptance speech short and brief.

Our Kim Do-yeon reports.

After staying quiet throughout election day, the People Power Party's candidate Kim Moon-soo accepted defeat at around 1:35 AM on Wednesday.

He had arrived around 10 minutes before, but decided to wait until the winner, Lee Jae-myung, finished his victory speech down the street.

Taking the mic, he thanked his supporters, congratulated Lee and kept it short.

"I thank those who fought alongside me. Korea, under any challenge, takes great leaps forward through the power of its people. I thank those who supported me despite my shortcomings."

After wrapping up, he didn't take any questions but shook hands with the camp members and the media and left the briefing room.

The media had been waiting since early in the evening for Kim to emerge and concede defeat right after the exit polls came out which forecast that Kim would lose by a double-digit figure.

With that, the campaign leadership, who gathered at the situation room set up in the National Assembly Library, remained quiet and many of them soon left the situation room.

Only PPP lawmaker and former primary contestant Ahn Cheol-soo remained in his seat past midnight along with another contestant, Yang Hyang-ja.

For some in the campaign, the exit polls were shocking as they believed that a comeback was made during the past 22 days.

The campaign, still grappling with the fallout from the martial law declaration and the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, tried to carefully balance its message — aiming not to upset Yoon and the party's loyal base while also reaching out to undecided voters by creating some distance from Yoon.

In addition, it targeted Lee Jae-myung's legal risks to create an anti-Lee Jae-myung coalition.

While in the end, Kim did narrow the gap to a single digit, it wasn't enough.

Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News.