From Trump’s tariffs to nuclear North Korea, the many challenges awaiting South Korea’s new president

It’s a momentous occasion for South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung — he’s gone from being a child labourer to becoming president. But this isn’t the time for the 61-year-old to sit back and enjoy his win.

Following his momentous victory in the South Korean elections — he has garnered more than 49 per cent of the total votes — Lee has to hit the ground running. He is expected to soon name his prime minister, chief of staff and Cabinet members to address quickly mounting tasks. Korea’s once-exemplary democracy needs fixing, the sharpness of political divisions has to be dulled and also deal with one of the world’s lowest birth rates. Notably, he has to do all of this while he deals with his own legal baggage in the form of five different criminal trials.

Lee scores an emphatic win

After a frenetic 60-day election campaign, South Koreans on Tuesday (June 3) voted in large numbers for centre-left Lee Jae-myung . He won a thumping victory over conservative Kim Moon-soo, of disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s former party — Lee secured 49.4 per cent of the vote, far ahead of Kim on 41.2 per cent.

Shortly after his win, Lee said in his celebratory speech, “I will not forget for one moment the mission you expect from me and have entrusted me, and will definitely, absolutely carry it out without ever straying from it.”

More from Explainers

Lee Jae-myung wins South Korea’s presidency as Kim Moon-soo concedes defeat From pianist to ‘political partner’: Who is Kim Hye-kyung, South Korea’s new first lady?

He also promised to “pursue dialogue, communication, and cooperation” with North Korea, with whom the South remains technically at war, “to find a path toward peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity”.

But there’s no time for Lee to sit back and enjoy his win. As Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington Post, “This is really a story of going from the frying pan into the fire. Yes, we will close the book on the martial law chapter, but what comes next is daunting.”

Restoring faith in democracy — Lee’s first big task

As challenges go, the biggest one now facing the new South Korean president would be to assuage the anger that exists amid the public towards politics and politicians.

He has promised to restore stability, rejecting his predecessor and arch-rival Yoon’s martial law as an aberration in South Korea’s nearly four-decade democratic history. But it’s a tall task, given the nation’s deep polarisation, experts say.

Editor’s Picks

1

South Korea presidential elections: Why K-pop stars are ditching the ‘V’ sign 2

3 reasons South Korea’s election could reshape Asia’s alliances

Darcie Draudt-Véjares, South Korean politics expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the Washington Post, “The election will help with a collective sense of turning the page … [but] that does not mean the next president can automatically solve deep political divides.”

Others also noted that Lee will have to maintain a balancing act with the conservatives in the country. “If he goes too aggressively after the conservatives, it will only galvanise the far-rightists, ultimately undermining efforts to reduce political polarisation,” Gi-Wook Shin, a sociology professor at Stanford University, told AFP.

A Trump-sized crisis awaits Lee

Outside of soothing internal tensions, perhaps dealing with US President Donald Trump and his trade war will be the biggest task for Lee.

Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all South Korean imports will hit the country’s already slowing economy and it is up to Lee to negotiate with the US president. Already in the first quarter of the year, South Korea’s economy grew less than expected.

But Lee has made it clear that while he seeks to negotiate with Trump, he’s not an easy man to deal with either. He previously said that Seoul does not need to rush tariff talks, adding that he first wants to know what leverage Seoul has. “Before we talk about our cards, we need to see what President Trump’s real cards are,” he said in a YouTube interview last month.

But there’s much more than just South Korea’s economy at stake when it comes to the US. The US currently guarantees South Korea’s security — it has vowed to come to the Asian nation’s defence with conventional and nuclear weapons in case of an attack by North Korea.

And Lee is a firm supporter of it, calling it the foundation of South Korea’s diplomacy. But Trump in April said that he had “discussed payment for the big time military protection we provide”, calling it “beautiful and efficient one-stop shopping”.

And Evans Revere, a former senior US diplomat based in Seoul, told BBC that he fears a crisis is coming. “For the first time in our lifetime we have a US president who does not feel a moral and strategic obligation towards Korea.”

A balancing act with China

As South Korea’s president, Lee will also have to contend with China, the country’s largest trading partner by far. While Lee wants to improve ties with Beijing, the country’s public in a recent poll has revealed that they are more wary of the Dragon.

Moreover, as US-China ties deteriorate even further, it will be Lee who will have to maintain a balance between the two — which as many known will be no easy task. Speaking on this Sungmin Cho, a Korea-China expert at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, was quoted telling the Washington Post, “South Korea’s position is becoming more difficult, to stand on this tightrope. So he will be more serious about hedging.”

Moreover, China and Russia have been growing closer — a development that Lee has mentioned on the campaign trail, suggesting that Seoul should be paying closer attention to its near neighbours.

Dealing with nuclear-capable North Korea

Lee will also have to look to his north to his nuclear-capable neighbour, North Korea. Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile capabilities continue to improve, and it has forged a military alliance with Russia, even sending thousands of troops to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

This poses a threat to Seoul that Lee has recognised and he has mentioned that he supports restarting dialogue with North Korea. In February, he said he would like to see a breakthrough in talks to limit the neighbour’s nuclear ambitions.

However, it seems hard to do so as Kim Jong Un has shown no signs of coming to the table and, in fact, has been emboldened by his growing ties with Russia. Mason Richey, international politics professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, explained the situation perfectly — how do you talk to North Korea when North Korea doesn’t want to talk to you? What policy do you support?

Lee’s own legal woes

But if these issues weren’t enough for the new South Korean president, he also has to deal with his own legal baggage. Lee faces five criminal trials —violating election law, allegations of corruption, sending money to North Korea and perjury. In fact, some of his legal battles threatened his bid for presidency.

These trials will likely stop as South Korea’s constitution prevents a sitting president from being charged with most crimes. But his rivals will take issue with it, because the constitution doesn’t clearly state whether a president can be convicted for crimes in which indictments came before taking up office.

With inputs from agencies