An Overview of the New South Korean President’s Policies

South Korea’s presidential election came to an end with the victory of “Moon Jae-in,” the liberal candidate in this competition, and as a result, after a decade, the liberal party came to power in South Korea.

“Moon Jae-in” is a candidate from South Korea’s social liberal party, known as the “Minjoo” party, whose victory in the presidential election was hopeful for many South Korean citizens.

However, with the coming to power of Mr. Jae-in, South Korea’s policies toward the United States and especially North Korea will witness fundamental changes.

Moon’s Policy Toward North Korea

During his election campaign, Mr. Moon, instead of imposing sanctions and harsh rhetoric with North Korea, supported the policy of dialogue with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, and for this reason was criticized by hardline conservatives in the country.

Mr. Moon’s policy toward North Korea is a combination of negotiations, economic cooperation, and military and security measures. He said in a debate in April in this regard, “I am confident that I can undertake leading the diplomatic efforts of all parties in the country, the result of which will be the complete halt of North Korea’s nuclear program.”

Moon believes that relations with North Korea, especially in the economic field, is the best way to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

Moon Jae-in’s Approach Toward the United States

The United States and South Korea have been politically and militarily allied for more than a decade, and Washington is also considered Seoul’s most important bilateral ally.

However, South Korea’s new leader disagrees with the Trump administration on a very important issue, and that is the deployment of the anti-missile system “THAAD” on South Korean soil.

Following the impeachment and removal of former President Park Geun-hye, the interim government of this country accelerated the THAAD deployment process, an action that was severely criticized by Mr. Moon and left-wing parties.

Mr. Moon and other critics of the THAAD project believe that the deployment of this system should be put to a vote in the country’s parliament. However, Seoul and Washington last week, before Mr. Moon’s victory, jointly announced that a large portion of the THAAD system has been deployed and activated, and the new president will not be able to prevent its complete deployment.

Mr. Moon also said in an interview with the Washington Post, while emphasizing the importance of cooperation between the United States and South Korea in line with improving diplomatic relations and national security, “We should have the first say in matters of the Korean peninsula that directly involve us.”

Regarding a meeting with Mr. Trump, Mr. Moon said he hopes that such a meeting would be an opportunity for them to reach a practical solution to counter North Korea’s nuclear program and completely halt it.

Source: Voice of America