{"id":3821,"date":"2025-06-13T11:31:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T15:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2025-06-13T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T15:31:50","slug":"south-koreas-new-president-lee-vows-to-pursue-talks-with-north-and-bolster-ties-with-us-and-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3821","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s new President Lee vows to pursue talks with North and bolster ties with US and Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 South Korea\u2019s new President Lee Jae-myung<\/a> vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee, who rose from childhood poverty<\/a> to become South Korea\u2019s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, began his term earlier Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a> over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said that his government will deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with \u201cstrong deterrence\u201d based on the South Korea-U.S. military alliance. But he said he would \u201copen a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighboring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough 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 maximize our national interests,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security and economic challenges lie ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was unclear whether Lee\u2019s election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea\u2019s foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting toward China and North Korea and away from the U.S. and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea\u2019s alliance with the U.S. as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any contentious remarks that would raise questions on his views on the U.S. and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to now see if the pressures of office will cause Lee Jae-myung to govern from the center \u2014 at least when it comes to matters of national security and the alliance with the United States,\u201d said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to predict with absolute certainty how he will deal with the U.S., North Korea, Japan and China because he\u2019s changed his position so much,\u201d said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security. \u201cWe can expect tensions if his government doesn\u2019t align with Washington\u2019s approach to China and Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toughest external challenges awaiting Lee are U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff policy<\/a> and North Korea\u2019s expanding military partnerships with Russia<\/a>. But experts earlier said whoever becomes president can\u2019t do much to secure major progress in South Korea\u2019s favor on those issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US, Japan and China react<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. and Japan said they congratulated Lee\u2019s election and expressed their commitments to developing three-way cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he wants to hold summit talks with Lee \u201cas early as possible,\u201d saying he hopes to further promote bilateral ties, both public and commercial. The U.S. State Department said that Seoul and Washington share \u201can ironclad commitment\u201d to the alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Lee, saying that Beijing is willing to work with Seoul to advance their cooperative partnership for the benefit of the countries\u2019 peoples, according to state broadcaster CCTV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unclear how North Korea would react to Lee\u2019s speech, as it has shunned any talks with South Korea and the U.S. since 2019. North Korea in recent years has supplied weapons and troops to support Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, and South Korea, the U.S. and their partners suspect Russia might in return transfer high-tech technologies to North Korea to help it perfect its nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s Tass news agency said Wednesday that top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu<\/a> has arrived in Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in the latest sign of the countries\u2019 booming exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee has said he would support Trump\u2019s moves to restart nuclear diplomacy with Kim Jong Un as part of efforts to engage with North Korea. North Korea hasn\u2019t publicly responded to Trump\u2019s outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLee and Trump would personally want to resume dialogue with Kim Jong Un. But North Korea has no incentive to talk to Washington or Seoul,\u201d said Duyeon Kim, the analyst. \u201cPyongyang has Beijing and Moscow\u2019s support both politically and economically, and can buy a lot of time to further perfect its nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later Wednesday, Lee nominated former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, a dove who favors greater rapprochement with North Korea, as his spy chief. The nomination is likely related to Lee Jae-myung\u2019s hopes to reopen talks, as the National Intelligence Service previously played a behind-the-scene role to promote ties with North Korea, observers say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Jae-myung also nominated his key political ally and veteran lawmaker Kim Min-seok as prime minister, the government\u2019s No. 2 job. Lee is expected to nominate other top Cabinet members in coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea still faces political divide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lee called for unity to address the country\u2019s stark political divide deepened after Yoon\u2019s martial law debacle, saying that he will \u201canswer the people\u2019s solemn call to let hope bloom over deep and painful wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee still promised a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Yoon\u2019s martial law imposition, describing it as a \u201crebellion that seized people\u2019s sovereignty with arms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee said revitalizing a slowing domestic economy would be his top priority and that his government would immediately launch an emergency task force to wage a \u201chead-on battle\u201d against the threats of recession. He also promised more aggressive government spending to help spur economic activity.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea\u2019s central bank last week cut its key interest rate and sharply lowered its growth outlook for 2025 to 0.8%, as it moved to counter Trump\u2019s tariff hikes and weak domestic demand worsened by recent political turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee also reiterated his campaign vows to reduce inequality, saying that \u201cthe polarization fueled by inequality is now hindering further growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee\u2019s term began immediately without the usual two-month transition period after the National Election Commission formally confirmed his election victory. Before his inauguration, Lee visited the national cemetery in Seoul to pay his respects to late Korean leaders, patriots and war dead who are buried there, and he had a telephone call with Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Kim Myung-soo to call for military readiness against possible North Korean aggression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 South Korea\u2019s new President&n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3823,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions\/3823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}