Within hours of being elected South Korea’s president, Lee Jae-myung began work on Wednesday by calling for dialogue with its arch enemy, North Korea, to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, while stressing South Korea’s commitment to its security alliance with the United States.
In his nationally televised inauguration speech at the rotunda lobby hall of the National Assembly, Mr. Lee reaffirmed diplomatic cooperation with the Trump administration, with whom he must work with to negotiate over tariffs and maintain its security alliance, and pledged to solidify trilateral cooperation with the United States and Japan.
But Mr. Lee shied away from commenting directly on how he would tackle the thorny diplomatic challenges he faces as president, such as the growing rivalry between the United States, South Korea’s only military ally, and China, its largest trading partner.
Unlike his campaign-trail speeches, where Mr. Lee called for improving ties with China, his swearing-in address did not mention it by name, reflecting the delicate diplomatic negotiations his government will face in the coming months. Mr. Lee wants to mend his country’s strained relations with China to help spur economic growth. But Washington is asking Seoul to play a bigger role in containing China.
On Wednesday, Mr. Lee only made an indirect reference to China: “I will approach relations with neighboring countries from a perspective of national interest and pragmatism.”
In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Mr. Lee on his election, reconfirming the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to their alliance. “We are also modernizing the alliance to meet the demands of today’s strategic environment and address new economic challenges,” Mr. Rubio said.
Mr. Lee’s predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who was expelled from office in April after his short-lived imposition of martial law, antagonized Beijing by aligning Seoul more firmly with Washington in the strategic competition between the two superpowers. He also won plaudits from Washington for improving ties with Tokyo to make trilateral cooperation possible.
“We can expect tensions if his government doesn’t align with Washington’s approach to China and Japan,” said Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based fellow with the Center for a New American Security. “Typically, there has been more policy discord between Seoul and Washington when there was a progressive government in South Korea.”
In Japan, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday expressed hope for an early meeting with Mr. Lee, continuing the practice of exchanging visits by the leaders of the two neighboring nations.
“I hope to step up cooperation between Japan and South Korea, and trilaterally with the United States, under President Lee Jae-myung on the occasion of the 60th anniversary” of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Seoul, Mr. Ishiba told reporters at his office.
North Korea did not immediately react to Mr. Lee’s inauguration. It had become increasingly hostile toward the South under Mr. Yoon, rejecting dialogue with it and threatening to use nuclear weapons against it. The North ’s newly minted alliance with Russia provides its leader, Kim Jong-un, with more leverage over Seoul and Washington. Analysts say that Mr. Kim will likely demand bigger incentives for resuming talks with either.
On Wednesday, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, sent a congratulatory message to Mr. Lee, calling their two nations “important neighbors and cooperative partners,” Chinese state media said. Mr. Xi also said he “attaches great importance” to developing bilateral ties.
“The fundamental driving force behind the development of China-South Korea relations stems from the common interests of both sides,” said Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. “China has always opposed taking sides and confrontation between camps.”
Because Mr. Lee was filling the vacancy created by Mr. Yoon’s impeachment, he took office as soon as South Korea’s National Election Commission confirmed him as the winner of Tuesday’s election. Overnight, he switched from campaigning for the election to organizing and launching his new administration, appointing key members of the Cabinet and his presidential office.
Mr. Lee faces more daunting problems than any recent South Korean leader, including responding to President Trump’s tariffs, especially the ones hurting the nation’s steel and autos industries.
The new president also said he would increase government spending and ease regulations to kick-start the economy and encourage businesses. Economic growth, he said, was key to creating more job opportunities and narrow economic and other inequalities.
“Lee Jae-myung will have his work cut out for him particularly on the economic front,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. “In addition to taking immediate steps to revive the slowing Korean economy, he faces a July 8 deadline to conclude trade talks with the Trump administration.”
After months of political turmoil that took a toll on South Korea’s markets, investors appeared to welcomed the election result, with the country’s benchmark Kospi index rising 2.5 percent on Wednesday. The won rose about half a percent against the dollar.
Mr. Lee took office at a time when his party controls Parliament, one of the few South Korean leaders to do so. That gives him political influence to push through policies. But his victory also revealed a deeply divided nation.
The election was billed largely as a referendum on Mr. Yoon and the right-wing People Power Party in the wake of his martial law, the first attempt to bring military rule back to South Korea in four decades. Still, that party’s candidate, Kim Moon-soo, garnered 41 percent of the votes. Mr. Lee won the election with 49.4 percent, a smaller margin than polls had projected.
Mr. Lee appealed for national unity to deal with the “complex interlocked crises” South Korea faces in the economy, diplomacy and domestic politics. He said that “unity is a barometer of competence and division the result of incompetence.”
“The political forces that have neither the capability nor the will to improve the lives of the people indulge in dividing them and sowing hatred,” he said. “I will become a president who ends the politics of division.”
He said he would punish those who were involved in Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law and install more institutional guardrails to prevent a future leader from attempting military rule again. But he also promised to restore a channel of dialogue and compromise with the political opposition.
Amy Chang Chien and Jin Yu Young contributed reporting.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.
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