Updated Wed, June 4, 2025 (Yahoo.com)
:: Seoul, South Korea
:: South Korea’s new president promises to ‘restore democracy’ after martial law fallout
:: Lee Jae-myung, South Korea President
“It is time to restore our democracy, which has been destroyed by armored vehicles and rifles. Our livelihoods and economy, which have collapsed due to indifference and irresponsibility, and our national security and peace, which have been reduced to tools of political strife.”
“A Lee Jae-myung government will be a pragmatic pro-market government.”
“Through a pragmatic diplomacy centered on national interest, we will turn the crisis of global economic, security, and environmental transformation into opportunities to maximise our national interest. Based on a strong South Korea–U.S. alliance, we will strengthen trilateral cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, while approaching relations with neighbouring countries from the perspective of practicality and national interest.”
Lee’s decisive victory in Tuesday’s (June 3) snap election stands to usher in a sea change in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, after backlash against a botched attempt at military rule brought down Yoon Suk Yeol just three years into his troubled presidency.
“A Lee Jae-myung government will be a pragmatic pro-market government,” he said after taking the oath of office at parliament, a location where six months ago he jumped over the perimeter wall to enter the chamber and avoid martial law troops barricading it to vote down the decree.
Lee faces what could be the most daunting set of challenges for a South Korean leader in nearly three decades, ranging from healing a country deeply scarred by the martial law attempt to tackling unpredictable protectionist moves by the United States, a major trading partner and a security ally.