South Korea’s new president vows to restart talks with North – National

South KoreaThe new president Lee Jae-Myung promised on Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and to strengthen a trilateral partnership with the United States and Japan, when he set key political objectives for his only five-year term.

Lee, who came out of infantile poverty to become the main liberal politician in South Korea, promising to fight against inequalities and corruption, began his mandate earlier Wednesday, a few hours after winning an early election which was triggered in April by the then withdrawal of the president YOON SUK YEOL on his unhappy Taxation of martial law at the end of last year.

In his inaugural speech in the National Assembly, Lee said that his government would deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military assaults with a “strong deterrent” based on the South Us military alliance. But he said that he “would open a communication channel with North Korea and have peace in the Korean peninsula by discussions and cooperation”.

He said he would continue pragmatic diplomacy with neighboring countries and stimulate trilateral cooperation of Seoul-Washington-Tokyo.

“Thanks to pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will transform the crisis posed by major change in economic and world security landscapes to maximize our national interests,” said Lee.

It was not clear if Lee’s election would lead to a major and immediate change in the foreign policy of South Korea. Lee, previously accused by criticism of the inclination of China and North Korea and far from the United States and Japan, recently underlined the alliance of South Korea with the United States as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any disputed remark that would raise questions about its opinions on the United States and Japan.

“We will now have to see if the pressures of the office will obtain Lee Jae-Myung to govern from the center-at least with regard to national security issues and the alliance with the United States,” said Ankit Panda, an expert in the Carnegie Field for International Peace.

“It is difficult to predict with absolute certainty how he will take care of the United States, North Korea, Japan and China because he has changed his position so much,” said Duyeon Kim, main analyst at the center for new American security based in Washington. “We can expect tensions if his government does not line up with the approach of Washington in China and Japan.”

The most difficult external challenges waiting for Lee are the pricing policy of American president Donald Trump and the expanding military partnerships of North Korea with Russia. But the experts declared earlier than the one who became president could not do much to obtain major progress in favor of South Korea on these issues.

The United States and Japan have said they had congratulated the election of Lee and expressed their commitments to develop cooperation to three.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he wanted to keep talks at the top with Lee “as soon as possible”, saying that he hoped to promote more bilateral, public and commercial links. The American State Department said that Seoul and Washington share “a commitment to renounce” the alliance.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a message of congratulations to Lee, claiming that Beijing was willing to work with Seoul to advance their cooperative partnership for the benefit of the peoples of the countries, according to the CCTV state broadcaster.

We do not know how North Korea would react to Lee’s speech because it has avoided talks with South Korea and the United States since 2019. North Korea in recent years has provided weapons and troops to support the Russian war against high-tech technologies and South Korea, North Korea to help perfect its nuclear weapon program.

The Russian news agency Tass said on Wednesday that the senior Russian security official Sergei Shoigu arrived in Pyongyang for a meeting with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in the last sign of the booming exchanges of the countries.

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Lee said he would support Trump’s measures to restart nuclear diplomacy with Kim Jong one in the context of efforts to get involved with North Korea. North Korea has not publicly responded to the awareness of Trump.

“Lee and Trump would personally want to regain dialogue with Kim Jong one. But North Korea has no incitement to speak to Washington or Seoul,” said Duyeon Kim, analyst. “Pyongyang has the support of Beijing and Moscow both politically and economically, and can buy a lot of time to perfect its nuclear weapons.”

Later Wednesday, Lee named the former Minister of Unification Lee Jong-Seok, a dove that promotes greater rapprochement with North Korea, as spy chief. The appointment is probably linked to the hopes of Lee Jae-Myung to reopen the talks, because the National Intelligence Service had previously played a role behind the scenes to promote links with North Korea, according to observers.

Lee Jae-Myung also appointed his key political ally and the veteran legislator Kim Min-Seok as Prime Minister, employment n ° 2 of the government. Lee should name other best members of the cabinet in the coming days.

Lee called for unity to address the austere political fracture of the country to deepen after the debacle of the Martial law of Yoon, saying that he “will answer the solemn call of the people to let hope flower on deep and painful wounds”.

Lee has always promised an in -depth investigation into the circumstances surrounding the taxation of the Martial Law of Yoon, describing it as a “rebellion which seized the sovereignty of people with arms”.

Lee said that revitalizing an slowing internal economy would be his top priority and that his government would immediately launch an emergency working group to lead a “frontal battle” against recession threats. He also promised more aggressive public spending to stimulate economic activity.

The Central Bank of South Korea last week has reduced its key interest rate and has greatly lowered its growth prospects for 2025 to 0.8%, while it was moving to counter Trump’s tariff increases and low domestic demand aggravated by recent political disorders.

Lee also reiterated his campaign to reduce inequalities, saying that “polarization fueled by inequalities now hinders additional growth”.

Lee’s mandate started immediately without the usual two -month transition period after the National Electoral Commission officially confirmed its electoral victory. Before its inauguration, Lee visited the national cemetery in Seoul to pay tribute to the Korean leaders, the patriots and the war dead who are buried there, and he had a telephone call with the president of the chiefs of the Chiefs of the Chief Staff Kim Myung-Soo to call on military preparation against a possible North Korean attack.

–The writers of the Associated Press Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.