Latest news with #SouthKoreaElection
News24
4 hours ago
- Business
- News24
US labels South Korea election fair, but Trump allies target new president: ‘This is terrible'
Pedro Pardo/AFP The US labelled South Korea's election as fair. Liberal party candidate Lee Jae-myung won the presidency. US President Donald Trump's right-wing allies have taken aim at Lee. The White House said on Tuesday that South Korea's election, which saw liberal party candidate Lee Jae-myung win the presidency, was fair, but it expressed concern about Chinese interference. 'The US-ROK Alliance remains ironclad. While South Korea had a free and fair election, the United States remains concerned and opposed to Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world,' a White House official said in an emailed response to a Reuters request for comment made at an earlier White House briefing. 'ROK' refers to the Republic of Korea. The official did not elaborate on the reference to alleged Chinese interference or connect it directly to the South Korean election. However, US President Donald Trump's right-wing allies have taken aim at Lee, who has spoken of the need to balance Seoul's relations with China and the US. Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who has jockeyed her way up from online agitator to self-appointed Trump adviser, posted 'RIP South Korea' on X on Tuesday after Lee's victory became clear. 'The communists have taken over Korea and won the Presidential election today,' she wrote. This is terrible. Laura Loomer Loomer has shown herself to be highly influential: Several high-ranking White House officials were fired this year after she presented Trump with a list of national security staffers she perceived to be disloyal. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement congratulating Lee, and like the White House, spoke about the two countries' 'ironclad' alliance. He made no mention of concerns about China. '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,' Rubio said. 'We are also modernising the Alliance to meet the demands of today's strategic environment and address new economic challenges.' Anthony Wallace/AFP Rubio also said the US would continue to deepen trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, 'to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles'. As South Korea's ousted former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, fought for his political life earlier this year, he raised unsubstantiated claims about possible fraud in South Korea's elections as one reason for his announcement of a martial law decree that had prompted his ouster. His backers adopted 'Stop the Steal' slogans and expressed hopes that Trump would intervene to help, but that never came. Yonhap/AFP 'Most of the 'election fraud' allegations I've seen reek of conspiracy theories and paranoia,' said Evans Revere, former US Deputy Ambassador for East Asian Affairs. 'It's unfortunate that a White House spokesperson would allude to these, especially since Lee's margin of victory was substantial and his conservative opponent quickly and unhesitatingly conceded his loss.' Last week, without providing evidence, Trump ally Mike Flynn, a retired general who briefly served as the president's national security adviser during his first term, referred in a post on X to 'signs of fraud' in the South Korea election, and said a fraudulent outcome would only benefit the Chinese Communist Party. Another Trump ally, Steve Bannon, explored a similar theme of Chinese election interference on his WarRoom channel last week. Lee's past comments about China, including his statement that a conflict over Taiwan would have nothing to do with South Korea, have provided fodder for those in the US government inclined to mistrust him, said Revere. His policy approach on China, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, and alliance- and trade-related concerns will be under close scrutiny in Washington and could lead to 'differences' between the two allies, he added. 'In that context, the White House spokesperson's comments could have been intended as a cautionary message to Korea's new president.'
Free Malaysia Today
7 hours ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
White House calls South Korea election ‘fair'
US secretary of state Marco Rubio issued a statement congratulating Lee Jae-myung and, like the White House, spoke of the two countries' 'ironclad' alliance. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON : The White House said yesterday that South Korea's election, which saw liberal party candidate Lee Jae-myung win the presidency, was fair, but it expressed concern about Chinese interference. 'The US-ROK Alliance remains ironclad. While South Korea had a free and fair election, the US remains concerned and opposed to Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world,' a White House official said in an emailed response to a Reuters request for comment made at an earlier White House briefing. 'ROK' refers to the Republic of Korea. The official did not elaborate on the reference to alleged Chinese interference or connect it directly to the South Korean election. However, US President Donald Trump's right-wing allies have taken aim at Lee, who has spoken of the need to balance Seoul's relations with China and the US. Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who has jockeyed her way up from online agitator to self-appointed Trump adviser, posted 'RIP South Korea' on X yesterday after Lee's victory became clear. 'The communists have taken over Korea and won the presidential election today,' she wrote. 'This is terrible,' she added. Loomer has shown herself to be highly influential: Several high-ranking White House officials were fired this year after she presented Trump with a list of national security staffers she perceived to be disloyal. US secretary of state Marco Rubio issued a statement congratulating Lee, and like the White House, spoke about the two countries' 'ironclad' alliance. He made no mention of concerns about China. 'The US and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the Alliance grounded in our Mutual Defense 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,' Rubio said. Rubio also said the US would continue to deepen trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, 'to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles.' China policies under scrutiny As South Korea's ousted former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, fought for his political life earlier this year, he raised unsubstantiated claims about possible fraud in South Korea's elections as one reason for his announcement of a martial law decree that had prompted his ouster. His backers adopted 'Stop the Steal' slogans and expressed hopes that Trump would intervene to help, but that never came. 'Most of the 'election fraud' allegations I've seen reek of conspiracy theories and paranoia,' said Evans Revere, former US deputy ambassador for East Asian Affairs. 'It's unfortunate that a White House spokesman would allude to these, especially since Lee's margin of victory was substantial and his conservative opponent quickly and unhesitatingly conceded his loss,' Revere said. Last week, without providing evidence, Trump ally Mike Flynn, a retired general who briefly served as the president's national security adviser during his first term, referred in a post on X to 'signs of fraud' in the South Korea election, and said a fraudulent outcome would only benefit the Chinese Communist Party. Another Trump ally, Steve Bannon, explored a similar theme of Chinese election interference on his WarRoom channel last week. 'Lee's past comments about China, including his statement that a conflict over Taiwan would have nothing to do with South Korea, have provided fodder for those in the US government inclined to mistrust him,' said Revere. His policy approach on China, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, and alliance- and trade-related concerns will be under close scrutiny in Washington and could lead to 'differences' between the two allies. 'In that context, the White House spokesman's comments could have been intended as a cautionary message to Korea's new president,' he added.
Khaleej Times
8 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE leaders congratulate President Lee Jae-myung on winning Korean elections
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed sent a message of congratulations to Lee Jae-myung on winning the presidential elections in South Korea. The Ruler also took to social media to convey his wish to the new leader. "Congratulations to Lee Jae-myung on his election as President of the Republic of Korea. Over the years, our two countries have shared strong ties of cooperation and friendship, and I look forward to working together to build upon the UAE-Korea Special Strategic Partnership and foster further growth and prosperity for our peoples." Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, dispatched similar messages to Lee Jae-myung on the occasion. South Korea's liberal party candidate, Lee Jae-myung, was elected president in Tuesday's snap election, six months to the day after he evaded military cordons to vote against a shock martial law decree imposed by his ousted predecessor. Lee's victory stands to usher in a political sea change in Asia's fourth-largest economy, after the backlash against the martial law brought down Yoon Suk Yeol, the conservative outsider who narrowly beat Lee in the 2022 election. Nearly 80 per cent of South Korea's 44.39 million eligible voters cast their ballots, the highest turnout for a presidential election in the country since 1997, with Lee terming the polls "judgment day" against Yoon's martial law and the People Power Party's failure to distance itself from that decision. With more than 99 per cent of the votes counted, the Democratic Party's Lee stood at 49.3 per cent to PPP candidate Kim Moon-soo's 41.3 per cent, according to National Election Commission data.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korea has endured 6 months of political turmoil. What can we expect in Lee's presidency?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Images from the election of South Korea's new president, liberal Lee Jae-myung, are everything you'd expect to see in one of the world's most vibrant democracies. Peaceful. Orderly. And, because this is South Korea, compulsively eye-catching, with crowds singing raucously along to blaring K-pop, dancers bouncing in closely choreographed sequences, and color-coordinated outfits for the two front-runners and their supporters — blue for Lee, who was inaugurated Wednesday for a single, five-year term, red for the distant runner-up, conservative Kim Moon Soo. What the pictures don't capture is the absolute turmoil of the past six months, making Tuesday one of the strangest — and, possibly, most momentous -- election days since the country emerged in the late 1980s from decades of dictatorship. Since Dec. 3, South Koreans have watched, stunned, as an extraordinary sequence of events unfolded: Then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, a first since the dictatorship. In response, lawmakers, leaping fences and jostling with heavily armed soldiers, elbowed their way into a besieged parliament to vote the declaration down. Yoon was then impeached and removed from office and now, just two months after his fall, another president has taken office. Here is a look at Lee's victory, the startling events that set up the election, and the challenges Lee faces to heal a nation split along a host of political and social fault lines. Where do these divisions come from? They are, in a way, older than the nation. The Korean Peninsula was initially divided into a Soviet-backed north and U.S.-backed south after World War II. The states formalized the division in 1948, and the 1950-53 Korean War made it permanent, dividing the rivals along the Demilitarized Zone, one of the most heavily armed borders in the world. But the tensions go beyond geography. During the long fight for democracy during South Korea's dictatorships, several fractures arose that persist today: the contentions between liberals and conservatives, but also gaps between rich and poor, old and young and men and women. Since the end of dictatorship, over and over the country has seen its democracy tested. By its own leaders. By its antagonistic neighbor to the north. By each new generation's reaction to a tumultuous history of forced geographic division, war, dictatorship, and one of the most breakneck economic turnarounds in world history. Preceding Tuesday's election, thousands of protesters took to the streets, both supporting the deposed Yoon and denouncing him. 'Above all, the president must bring unity among a divided and confused public, which was caused by the martial law declaration,' Park Soo Hyun, a 22-year-old student, said Wednesday. What can we expect from a Lee administration? Lee's party has a majority in parliament that will presumably allow the new president a freer hand in pushing through liberal legislation, including more funding for welfare programs and policies to address high living costs, joblessness and corruption. Typically, liberals like Lee have been more wary of South Korea's traditional allies, the United States and Japan, than conservatives. They have also often looked for reconciliation with North Korea. The United States sees South Korea as a crucial buttress against China and Russia and North Korea's growing nuclear capabilitie s. The South hosts nearly 30,000 U.S. troops. Lee, however, will have to find a way to keep his liberal base happy while managing the relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened Seoul with tariffs and has generally been lukewarm about the importance of the alliance. Lee has also been dogged by a raft of corruption cases, and it's not yet clear how much of a drag those will be on his presidency. "I will make sure there is no more military coup d'état, in which the power entrusted by the people would never be used to intimidate people,' Lee said in his victory speech early Wednesday morning, referring to the martial law decree. So is South Korea past the worst or can we expect more turmoil? Experts say it's a little of both. The last half-year has worsened already raw divisions, even as it highlighted the underlying strength of a rough-and-tumble democratic process. 'Fierce ideological divisions still infuse politics, which could impede South Korea's chances to grow into a truly mature democracy," Duyeon Kim, a visiting professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, wrote recently for the Council on Foreign Relations. But Tuesday's vote and Wednesday's inauguration signaled a return to a more normal democracy. And even the crisis itself showed the resiliency of South Korea's institutions. A crowd helped lawmakers get past troops and into parliament to overturn the martial law decree. The soldiers who carried out Yoon's orders did so without enthusiasm and didn't use force against the people, John Delury, a Korea expert and visiting professor at John Cabot University, said Tuesday. Korean democracy is in the people's hands, he said, not any one person's, even the new president's. Lee 'enters office with a strong mandate. But he is not the savior of democracy," said Delury. "Korean people saved it themselves. Now they are entrusting him not to do any more damage to it for the next five years.'
Washington Post
9 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
South Korea has endured 6 months of political turmoil. What can we expect in Lee's presidency?
SEOUL, South Korea — Images from the election of South Korea's new president, liberal Lee Jae-myung , are everything you'd expect to see in one of the world's most vibrant democracies. Peaceful. Orderly. And, because this is South Korea, compulsively eye-catching, with crowds singing raucously along to blaring K-pop, dancers bouncing in closely choreographed sequences, and color-coordinated outfits for the two front-runners and their supporters — blue for Lee, who was inaugurated Wednesday for a single, five-year term, red for the distant runner-up, conservative Kim Moon Soo. What the pictures don't capture is the absolute turmoil of the past six months , making Tuesday one of the strangest — and, possibly, most momentous -- election days since the country emerged in the late 1980s from decades of dictatorship. Since Dec. 3, South Koreans have watched, stunned, as an extraordinary sequence of events unfolded: Then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, a first since the dictatorship. In response, lawmakers, leaping fences and jostling with heavily armed soldiers, elbowed their way into a besieged parliament to vote the declaration down. Yoon was then impeached and removed from office and now, just two months after his fall, another president has taken office. Here is a look at Lee's victory, the startling events that set up the election, and the challenges Lee faces to heal a nation split along a host of political and social fault lines. They are, in a way, older than the nation. The Korean Peninsula was initially divided into a Soviet-backed north and U.S.-backed south after World War II. The states formalized the division in 1948, and the 1950-53 Korean War made it permanent, dividing the rivals along the Demilitarized Zone , one of the most heavily armed borders in the world. But the tensions go beyond geography. During the long fight for democracy during South Korea's dictatorships, several fractures arose that persist today: the contentions between liberals and conservatives, but also gaps between rich and poor, old and young and men and women. Since the end of dictatorship, over and over the country has seen its democracy tested. By its own leaders. By its antagonistic neighbor to the north. By each new generation's reaction to a tumultuous history of forced geographic division, war, dictatorship, and one of the most breakneck economic turnarounds in world history. Preceding Tuesday's election, thousands of protesters took to the streets, both supporting the deposed Yoon and denouncing him. 'Above all, the president must bring unity among a divided and confused public, which was caused by the martial law declaration,' Park Soo Hyun, a 22-year-old student, said Wednesday. Lee's party has a majority in parliament that will presumably allow the new president a freer hand in pushing through liberal legislation, including more funding for welfare programs and policies to address high living costs, joblessness and corruption. Typically, liberals like Lee have been more wary of South Korea's traditional allies, the United States and Japan, than conservatives. They have also often looked for reconciliation with North Korea. The United States sees South Korea as a crucial buttress against China and Russia and North Korea's growing nuclear capabilitie s. The South hosts nearly 30,000 U.S. troops. Lee, however, will have to find a way to keep his liberal base happy while managing the relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened Seoul with tariffs and has generally been lukewarm about the importance of the alliance. Lee has also been dogged by a raft of corruption cases, and it's not yet clear how much of a drag those will be on his presidency. 'I will make sure there is no more military coup d'état, in which the power entrusted by the people would never be used to intimidate people,' Lee said in his victory speech early Wednesday morning, referring to the martial law decree. Experts say it's a little of both. The last half-year has worsened already raw divisions, even as it highlighted the underlying strength of a rough-and-tumble democratic process. 'Fierce ideological divisions still infuse politics, which could impede South Korea's chances to grow into a truly mature democracy,' Duyeon Kim, a visiting professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, wrote recently for the Council on Foreign Relations. But Tuesday's vote and Wednesday's inauguration signaled a return to a more normal democracy. And even the crisis itself showed the resiliency of South Korea's institutions. A crowd helped lawmakers get past troops and into parliament to overturn the martial law decree. The soldiers who carried out Yoon's orders did so without enthusiasm and didn't use force against the people, John Delury, a Korea expert and visiting professor at John Cabot University, said Tuesday. Korean democracy is in the people's hands, he said, not any one person's, even the new president's. Lee 'enters office with a strong mandate. But he is not the savior of democracy,' said Delury. 'Korean people saved it themselves. Now they are entrusting him not to do any more damage to it for the next five years.'
