Moon leads a country shaken by Park case
Print Edition
NEW South Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday he was open to visiting North Korea under the right conditions to talk about Pyongyang’s aggressive pursuit of nuclear missiles.
Moon’s softer stance on North Korea could create friction with Washington, which has swung from threats of military action to hints of dialogue as it seeks to formulate a policy under President Donald Trump.
Moon, speaking during his oath of office as the first liberal leader in a decade, also said he’ll “sincerely negotiate” with the United States, Seoul’s top ally, and China, South Korea’s top trading partner, over the deployment of the THAAD advanced US missile-defense system in southern South Korea. The system has angered Beijing, which says its powerful radars allow Washington to spy on its military operations.
In a speech at the National Assembly hours after being declared the winner of Tuesday’s election, Moon pledged to work for peace on the Korean Peninsula amid growing worries over North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons and missiles program.
“I will quickly move to solve the crisis in national security. I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean Peninsula. If needed, I will fly immediately to Washington. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo. If the conditions shape up, I will go to Pyongyang,” he said.
Moon, whose victory capped one of the most turbulent political stretches in South Korea’s recent history, assumed presidential duties early in the morning after the National Election Commission finished counting and declared him winner of the special election necessitated by the departure of conservative Park Geun-hye.
He was expected to nominate a prime minister, the country’s No. 2 job that requires approval from lawmakers, and name his presidential chief of staff later in the day.
Moon thanked the millions of people who staged peaceful protests for months calling for Park to go. She was impeached and arrested in March over a corruption scandal. He also offered a message of unity to his political rivals — Moon’s Democratic Party has only 120 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, so he may need broader support while pushing his key policies.
“Politics were turbulent (in the past several months), but our people showed greatness,” Moon said. “In face of the impeachment and arrest of an incumbent president, our people opened the path toward the future for the Republic of Korea,” he said, referring to South Korea’s formal name.
To his rivals, Moon said: “We are partners who must lead a new Republic of Korea. We must put the days of fierce competition behind and hold hands marching forward.”
Taking up his role as commander in chief, Moon began his duties earlier in the day by receiving a call from Army General Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, who briefed him on the military’s preparedness against North Korea.
He then left his private residence in an emotional send-off from hundreds of people and visited a national cemetery in Seoul. After bowing to former presidents, independence fighters and war heroes, Moon wrote in a visitors’ book: “A country worth being proud of; a strong and reliable president!”
He also visited the offices of opposition parties, seeking support in governing a country that is split along ideological lines and regional loyalties.
The leaders of China and Japan sent their congratulations.
Relations with Japan are strained by the Japanese military’s sexual exploitation of South Korean women during World War II, and relations with China have been irritated over the deployment of the THAAD missile-defense system. Moon made a campaign vow to reconsider its deployment.
The son of refugees who fled North Korea during the war, Moon will lead a nation shaken by the scandal that felled Park, whose criminal trial is due to start later this month.
Taking office without the usual two-month transition, Moon will initially have to depend on Park’s ministers and aides, but he was expected to move quickly to replace them. He will serve the typical single five-year term.
Moon was chief of staff for the last liberal president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, who sought closer ties with North Korea by setting up large-scale aid shipments and working on now-stalled joint economic projects.
Winning 41 percent of the votes, he comfortably edged conservative Hong Joon-pyo and centrist Ahn Cheol-soo.
Hong had pitched himself as a “strongman,” described the election as a war between ideologies and questioned Moon’s patriotism.
Park’s trial on bribery, extortion and other corruption charges could send her to jail for life if convicted. Dozens of high-profile figures, including Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil and Samsung’s de-facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, have been indicted along with Park.
Moon frequently appeared at anti-Park rallies and the corruption scandal boosted his push to re-establish liberal rule.
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