South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung vowed on Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the United States and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.
Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier on Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then president Yoon Suk-yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.
In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said his government would deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance. But he said he would “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean peninsula through talks and cooperation”.
He said he would pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighbouring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the robust South Korea-US alliance.
“Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximise our national interests,” Lee said.
It was unclear whether Lee’s election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea’s foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting towards China and North Korea and away from the US and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea’s alliance with the US as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any contentious remarks that would raise questions on his views on the US and Japan.
