South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, came to power yesterday, urging North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for economic stimulus at a time when the peninsula is tense.
Yoon, a 61-year-old conservative, came to power as North Korea took an increasingly aggressive stance. Pyongyang has conducted 15 military tests since the beginning of the year, including two last week.
South Korea and the United States suspect that the North Korean regime wants to continue nuclear tests.
The new president had his first meeting yesterday with the main officials of the General Staff in an underground bunker at the presidential headquarters.
In his opening speech to the Seoul National Assembly, Yoon urged his northern neighbor to give up its nuclear arsenal, which he described as a threat to global security.
Yoon said he was willing to present a “bold plan” to help North Korea’s impoverished economy and improve the living standards of its people if Pyonyang “truly enters into full denuclearization.”
a proposal for dialogue
The President said that “North Korea’s nuclear programs pose a threat not only to our security, but also to the whole of northeast Asia,” stressing that “the door for dialogue will remain open” to resolve this threat peacefully.
The new president said the country is facing “multiple crises”, citing the covid-19 outbreak, supply chain problems and global conflicts that, according to him, “cast a long shadow” on South Korea.
“The Koreans have never surrendered, we have become stronger and wiser,” he said.
For Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, Yoon’s offer to help North Korea economically is an “old-fashioned” strategy.
“North Korea has said since 2009 that it will not give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives,” Park told AFP.
‘A rude young man’
The new president has promised more aggressive diplomacy after his predecessor Moon Jae-in’s failed attempts at rapprochement with North Korea.
After winning the election, Yoon said he would “seriously” deal with the threat posed by the Kim Jong-un regime.
During the campaign, he referred to Kim as a “rude young man” whom he would teach “etiquette”.
Yoon also said he is seeking a stronger relationship with the United States, which is the main ally against Pyongyang. President Joe Biden will visit Seoul at the end of May.
The American delegation at the inauguration ceremony was chaired by Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. Japan and China, the countries where Yoon plans to soften relations in some troubled moments, sent high-level representatives.
low popularity
Domestically, public disillusionment with Moon Jae-in’s liberal government appears to be at the root of Yoon’s victory.
Moon won the 2017 presidential election, promising to adopt an equal opportunity program in the world’s 10th largest economy, following the ousting of his predecessor Park Geun-hye, who was overthrown by a corruption scandal.
But he was accused of leniency towards his own allies, who admitted to taking bribes. It has also been criticized for economic policies, which for some exacerbated the country’s inequalities.
Yoon will not have an easy term, and he is coming to power with a popularity rating of 41%, one of the lowest in South Korea’s early democratic history, according to a recent Gallup poll.
One of the reasons, according to the research, is the decision to transfer the presidential headquarters from the Blue House to the former headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in downtown Seoul.
The move was not well received by the public and was seen as a risk for the country at a time of tension with North Korea.
Yoon claimed that the Blue House was the seat of Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945 and was a “symbol of imperial power”.
Nearly 40,000 people were invited to the opening ceremony, which was the most expensive in the country’s history with a budget of 3.3 billion won (approximately R$13.4 million).
source: Noticias
