South Korea's new president Lee Jae-myung will be busy balancing relations with the US, China and North Korea

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

South Korea's new president has a gargantuan job ahead.
After six months of political chaos, three different interim presidents, protests and legal battles, deep divisions have been exposed in what's considered one of Asia's most successful democracies.
President Lee Jae-myung has experienced the worst of this himself.
After he survived a serious assassination attempt early last year, he'd been campaigning behind bullet proof glass and wearing a bulletproof vest.
Healing society's wounds will be chief among his priorities as he begins his new role.
"I will build a truly happy community where we coexist and cooperate over hatred and confrontation," he told supporters as the votes were being finalised.
"What the president is responsible for is harmony among others."
Voters went to the polls exactly six months to the day since impeached conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, throwing South Korea into chaos.
Politicians — including Lee Jae-myung — scaled fences and fended off armed officers to enter the National Assembly so they could vote to block the declaration.
They did so successfully and Yoon lifted the order after only six hours, but it dredged up painful memories of South Korea's authoritarian past.
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans rallied calling for Yoon's resignation and impeachment over following weeks.
Standing on the wide road leading up to the country's National Assembly, flanked by thousands of other protesters, one young woman cried as she told th ABC she feared that South Korea's democracy had been destroyed.
"I think it's tragic, I've lived in a democratic country my whole life and suddenly I feel it's not democratic anymore," she said.
Retired teacher Seo Haewoon lived through the last time the government declared martial law more than 40 years ago.
He was shocked to see it happen again.
"I was looking for a job, four months after finishing my military service, when I saw the martial law army coming, suppressing the civilians," he told the ABC of the declaration in the late 1970s.
"I was very confused and shocked. It is still a trauma for me."
But Mr Seo is hopeful the country has now learned a valuable lesson.
"All political turmoil should be resolved via communication and democratic methods, not with the guns or martial law," he said.
"I believe students today have learned the value of democracy. They are looking for a fair society. If the politicians do any bad things like last year, I'm pretty sure the students would rally again.
"Martial law cannot be accepted. This demolishes democracy."
South Korean media reported that Mr Lee began his official duties at 6.21am, before even being inaugurated.
He won't benefit from the usual two month transition period, considering the country was on its third interim president before his election.
And there's no doubt there's plenty of urgent work to do.
Many South Koreans the ABC spoke to were concerned about the country's economy, some even said they thought Yoon's martial law had deterred tourists from visiting.
The other chief concern is negotiating with the US, South Korea's most important ally.
The revolving door of presidents over the last few months has stymied South Korea's ability to finalise a deal with the White House.
US President Donald Trump wants to put 25 per cent tariffs on South Korea.
He also wants the country to pay more for the 28,000 American troops stationed here to deter nuclear armed North Korea.
Under Yoon, tensions with the North had grown.
Mr Lee is more open to communicating with Pyongyang and fostering on regional alliances, rather than putting all the focus on the US.
"I will try my best to recover the economy, restoring livelihoods as soon as possible so that you can come to an end with this difficult periods," Mr Lee told his supporters.
"I will build up a peaceful and coexisting Korean peninsula with dominant national defence power, clearly deterring North Korea.
"I am sure that genuine security derives from winning without fighting rather than confrontation. With inter-Korean communication we will come to a common prosperity."
Navigating these relationships will be one of the key challenges for the new president, according to Chun Chaesung, a professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University.
"How to maintain a strong US Alliance? That's very difficult, because these days, the US is showing the so called MAGA realism, and President Trump doesn't put more put much emphasis upon the alliance partner," he said.
"So it'll be very hard for him to strengthen the alliance, which is critical in deterring North Korea risk of actions in the future."
And of course, just across the Yellow Sea, Mr Lee needs to navigate relations with China.
"Now the bilateral relationship is really bad, and President Lee thinks that we have to recover the relationship with China, because China is the number one trading partner of South Korea, like your country," Professor Chun said.
"So how to achieve these two very difficult, incompatible purposes — which is to maintain [the US] Alliance and recover relations with China — it will be very critical."
While many, including Mr Lee, will be hoping his election marks the end of a sorry chapter of South Korea's history, it's likely there is more drama to play out.
Yoon is still on trial for insurrection, and he's been indicted for abuse of power.
Many of his supporters still feel he's been unfairly treated.
And Mr Lee isn't without legal troubles himself.
His candidacy was briefly thrown into doubt when the Supreme Court overturned his acquittal for an alleged election law violation.
If found guilty he would have been barred from running.
The court postponed the retrial until June 18, saying it was "in order to guarantee a fair electioneering opportunity to the defendant, who is a presidential candidate, and eliminate controversies about the fairness of the trial".
It's unclear now if that will still go ahead, or if Mr Lee will benefit from presidential immunity.
The election result too speaks to the deep divisions remaining in South Korean society.
Professor of Political Science at Pusan National University, Robert Kelly, said the outcome — with only 8 per cent between Mr Lee and Mr Kim — should have been a slam dunk for the president-elect's progressive Democratic Party.
"The big take-away of the [South] Korean presidential election is not the leftist's victory, but the strength of the right despite the huge scandal of the previous conservative president imposing martial law last year," he posted on X.
"If anything should lead to a wave election, it should be impeachment. But it still didn't happen.
"That's how polarised South Korean politics is. Wow."
Mr Lee's own story exemplifies the magnificent transition the country has seen over his life time.
Growing up in poverty, he didn't finish school.
Instead, he worked in sweatshops and factories as a teen and was seriously injured in a machinery accident.
But he managed to pass the university entrance exam, eventually becoming a human rights lawyer before entering politics.
This is his second time running for president — he lost in 2022 to Yoon Suk Yeol by the narrowest margin in South Korea's democratic history.
But this time around, with the highest voter turnout in nearly 30 years, Professor Chun argues Mr Lee is in a strong position.
"This is the highest vote in 21st century South Korea, reflecting the public's interest and eagerness to move beyond instability and show the resilience of democracy," he told the ABC.
"Secondly, Lee Jae-myung took office with a vast majority in the Congress.
"So he is backed by a parliamentary majority for his party, which is giving him a very rare, unified government, a strong mandate."
But with that, comes the responsibility to meet the expectations of South Koreans hoping to put this saga behind them.
Cho Seoyeon, a mother of three told the ABC: "I hope we can live in a better Korea, with our kids — with our next generation — in a better, peaceful place."