Seoul: A new survey on Thursday confirmed that South Korea's opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung maintains a commanding lead over the ruling party nominee in the runup to the June 3 snap presidential election, local media reports said. Lee, the Democratic Party (DP) candidate, is leading his People Power Party (PPP) rival Kim Moon-soo with 49% support against Kim's 27%, a National Barometer Survey (NBS) said.

According to Anadolu Agency, the candidate of the minor New Reform Party, came next with 7% support. Some 57% of respondents expressed their preference for a change in administration by the DP through the June 3 presidential election, while 32% hoped to see the rule of the former governing PPP extended.

The liberal DP currently leads the opinion poll with 42% overall support, while the conservative PPP has 28% support. The poll follows months of political turbulence in South Korea, including a failed bid in December to declare martial law.

The survey was conducted by pollsters Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research on 1,000 people aged 18 and older.