South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol vows tougher stance on North Korea, ‘mutual respect’ with China

Analysts say Yoon can’t sustain his tough rhetoric against Beijing and Pyongyang but his bid for a stronger military alliance with Washington could raise tensions

Critics argue the former prosecutor has no clear-cut policy orientation or experience as a policy setter

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Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party was elected as South Korea’s new president on Thursday. Photo: AP

Published: 3:13pm, 10 Mar 2022Updated: 4:10pm, 19 May 2022

South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday said he would sternly deal with North Korea’s misbehaviour and reset ties with China, hinting he would shift back to the hardline posture taken under his conservative predecessors.

United States President Joe Biden called Yoon to congratulate him on his election victory and they affirmed the need for strong alliance in the face of North Korea’s repeated missile launches, Yoon’s aides said.

Neighbouring North Korea did not comment on Yoon’s election, but Pyongyang recently conducted a series of missile launches, sparking concerns it is preparing to test Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) under the pretext of satellite launches amid stalled denuclearisation talks.

Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s president-elect, reacts to his victory outside his campaign office in the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Bloomberg

Ties between the two Koreas hit rock bottom under former conservative presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye when inter-Korean rapprochement yielded to military clashes and economic reprisals on their watch.

“We will build a powerful military force that can assuredly deter any provocation to protect the safety and property of our citizens, and safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our nation,” Yoon said at his first press conference after he narrowly defeated his rival, the liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party.

“There will be firm, principled countermeasures to North Korea’s illegal and irrational actions but the doors to dialogue will, however, always be left open,” he said.

While running on the ticket of the conservative People Power Party, Yoon has criticised the outgoing liberal president Moon Jae-in’s policy toward the North as too “indulgent” which he said only emboldened the Stalinist state to build up nuclear weapons and missiles.