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Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung takes office
South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung talks to attendees during the conclusion of his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 4, 2025. ANTHONY WALLACE/Pool via REUTERS South Korea has elected liberal Lee Jae-myung as president to lead the country through a tumultuous period that will require negotiating trade tariffs with the U.S. and mending the scars from his ousted predecessor's shock martial law declaration. Following are some reactions to his victory: MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE "We congratulate President Lee Jae-myung on his election as the next president of the Republic of Korea (ROK)." "The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the Alliance grounded in our Mutual Defence Treaty, shared values, and deep economic ties. We are also modernising the Alliance to meet the demands of today's strategic environment and address new economic challenges." "We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles." SHIGERU ISHIBA, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN "Japan and South Korea are important neighbours that should cooperate as partners on various international issues," "The importance of Japan-South Korea relations remains unchanged under the current strategic environment. The cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States is also important." Ishiba also told reporters that the two countries should hold a bilateral summit as soon as possible. ANTONIO COSTA, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL "Looking forward to deepening our strategic partnership as key allies in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. We share a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and we highly value South Korea's global role." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
eNCA
01-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Bunker-cafe on Korean border paints image of peace
SEOUL - Reclining on sofas at a South Korean cafe, customers sip iced Americanos as they gaze past barbed wire fences and watchtowers at the mountains of North Korea. Daonsoop cafe is so close to the North Korean border that to obtain the building permit, its owners had to construct the property with a bunker and fortified positions for tanks. Founder Lee Oh-sook and her husband, both the children of North Korean refugees, built the cafe less than two kilometres from the border in Paju, seeking proximity to their ancestral homeland. "From here, you can see North Korea, so close but inaccessible... Our parents always hoped to return to their homeland, but they died before realising this dream," 63-year-old Lee told AFP. "We chose to settle here to think of them more often." AFP | ANTHONY WALLACE The two countries are technically still at war as the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and South Korea still refers to the border as the "front line". Below the cafe's bay windows runs the Jayu-ro motorway, or "Freedom Road", which in an ideal future would link Seoul to Pyongyang, but currently stops at the Reunification Bridge near the border. The Imjin river, which separates the two Koreas, runs alongside the motorway, while a sign in a military-controlled border area warns that "trespassers may be treated as an enemy or suspect and shot". Every night, giant loudspeakers across the border in North Korea broadcast blood-curdling sounds as part of a noise campaign emblematic of the two countries' steadily declining ties. The soundtrack of wolf howls, screams and ghostly creaks is so powerful it rattles the cafe's windows. AFP | ANTHONY WALLACE The cafe also attracts North Koreans who have defected to the South. During family holidays such as Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok in the autumn, they can look across to their homeland from its terrace. On the other side of the border, North Korean farmers go about their business, burning rice fields at the end of winter in a polluting agricultural practice eradicated in the South. The pungent smoke billows across the border and envelops the cafe, but some customers, indifferent like many South Koreans to their northern neighbour, are unaware of the cause. "It looks so calm and peaceful right now, but many visitors don't know that the North is just across the road, so when they find out, they're surprised," Lee said.
