South Korea’s new President vows to bolster ties with U.S., Japan

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea’s caller President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral concern with the U.S. and Japan, arsenic helium laid retired cardinal argumentation goals for his single, five-year term.

Lee, who roseate from puerility poverty to go South Korea’s starring wide person vowing to combat inequality and corruption, formally began his word earlier Wednesday, hours aft winning a drawback predetermination that was triggered successful April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol implicit his ill-fated imposition of martial instrumentality precocious past year.

In his inaugural code astatine the National Assembly, Lee said that his authorities volition woody with North Korean atomic threats and its imaginable subject aggressions with “strong deterrence” based connected the coagulated South Korea-U.S. subject alliance. But helium said helium would “open a connection transmission with North Korea and found bid connected the Korean Peninsula done talks and cooperation.”

He said he’ll prosecute pragmatic diplomacy with neighboring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo practice based connected the robust South Korea-U.S. alliance.

"Through pragmatic diplomacy based connected nationalist interests, we volition crook the situation posed by the large displacement successful planetary economical and information landscapes into an accidental to maximize our nationalist interests,” Lee said.

It was unclear whether Lee’s predetermination would origin immoderate major, contiguous displacement successful South Korea’s overseas policy. Lee, antecedently accused by critics of tilting toward China and North Korea and distant from the U.S. and Japan, has precocious repeatedly stressed South Korea’s confederation with the U.S. arsenic the instauration of its overseas argumentation and avoided immoderate contentious remarks that would rise questions connected his views connected the U.S. and Japan.

“We’ll person to present spot if the pressures of bureau volition origin Lee Jae-myung to govern from the halfway — astatine slightest erstwhile it comes to matters of nationalist information and the confederation with the United States,” said Ankit Panda, an adept with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The toughest outer challenges awaiting Lee are U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and North Korea’s expanding subject partnerships with Russia. But experts earlier said whoever becomes president can’t bash overmuch to unafraid large advancement successful South Korea’s favour connected those issues.

During his inauguration speech, Lee didn’t straight notation commercialized issues with the U.S.

The U.S. and Japan said they congratulated Lee’s predetermination and expressed their commitments to processing three-way cooperation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said helium wants to clasp acme talks with Lee “as aboriginal arsenic possible,” saying helium hopes to further beforehand bilateral ties, some nationalist and commercial. The U.S. State Department said that Seoul and Washington stock “an ironclad commitment” to the confederation grounded successful their communal defence treaty, shared values and heavy economical ties.

It’s unclear however North Korea would respond to Lee’s speech, arsenic it has shunned immoderate talks with South Korea since 2019. North Korea successful caller years has supplied weapons and troops to enactment Russia's warfare against Ukraine, and South Korea, the U.S. and their partners fishy Russia mightiness successful instrumentality transportation high-tech technologies to North Korea to assistance it cleanable its atomic weapons program.

Russia’s Tass quality bureau said Wednesday that 1 of President Vladimir Putin’s apical information officials, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, has arrived successful Pyongyang for a gathering with North Korean person Kim Jong Un, successful the latest motion of the countries’ alignment implicit Putin’s warfare successful Ukraine.

Lee said revitalizing a slowing home system would beryllium his apical precedence and that his authorities would instantly motorboat an exigency task unit to wage a “head-on battle” against the threats of recession. He besides promised much assertive authorities spending to assistance spur economical activity.

South Korea’s cardinal slope past week chopped its cardinal involvement complaint and sharply lowered its maturation outlook for 2025 to 0.8%, arsenic it moved to antagonistic Trump’s tariff hikes and anemic home request worsened by caller governmental turmoil.

Lee besides called for unity to code the country’s stark governmental disagreement deepened aft Yoon's martial instrumentality debacle, saying that helium volition “answer the people’s solemn telephone to fto anticipation bloom implicit heavy and achy wounds." Lee inactive promised a thorough probe into the circumstances surrounding Yoon’s martial instrumentality imposition, describing it arsenic a “rebellion that seized people’s sovereignty with arms.”

Yoon and immoderate of his apical subject and constabulary officers already basal proceedings connected high-stakes rebellion charges successful transportation with martial law. Lee's propulsion to bring those progressive successful Yoon's martial instrumentality stunt accountable has subsequently caused speculations among his opponents that helium would motorboat governmental revenge against Yoon associates and elder prosecutors whom helium antecedently accused of fabricating grounds to initiate transgression charges against him.

Lee faces 5 trials connected corruption and different allegations, but experts accidental those trials volition apt halt during his word due to the fact that the South Korean constitution gives a sitting president immunity from astir transgression prosecutions.

Lee besides reiterated his run vows to trim inequality and pledged to code the imbalance betwixt the greater Seoul superior country and little developed regions. He said that “the polarization fueled by inequality is present hindering further growth.”

Lee’s word began instantly without the accustomed two-month modulation play aft the National Election Commission formally confirmed his predetermination victory.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi successful Tokyo contributed to this report.