Justice Party leader Sim Sang-jung narrowly won her fourth term as a lawmaker in a cutthroat three-way race against first-time parliamentary candidates of the two largest parties.

Sim won 39.3 percent of the ballot in Goyang-A, Gyeonggi Province, followed by Lee Kyung-hwan of the main opposition United Future Party who won 32.7 percent and Moon Myung-soon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea with 27.3 percent.

As the only winner among 75 Justice Party candidates who ran in electoral districts, Sim will return to the National Assembly with her five fellow party members who won through proportional representation.

“I am really sorry we didn’t get more of our candidates elected,” Sim said with tears as her party’s election committee was disbanded Thursday morning.

“We have walked a lonely and rugged path for 20 years, but the Justice Party will start anew.”

The minor progressive party fought a difficult race due to the megaparties’ creation of satellite parties targeting proportional representation seats, Sim said.

In contrast to the 2016 election where she won by a landslide margin of some 22,000 votes, Sim struggled from the beginning of the campaign this time, initially polling third.

It was a close contest until 1 a.m. on Thursday when her election became certain.

Having begun her parliamentary career in 2004 as a proportional representative, Sim has run four times in Goyang-A and won three times.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)