South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term. Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, began his term earlier Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year. In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said that his government will deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the South Korea-U.S. military alliance. But he said he would “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation.” He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighboring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation. “Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximize our national interests,” Lee said. Security and economic challenges lie ahead It was unclear whether Lee’s election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea’s foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting toward China and North Korea and away from the U.S. and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea’s alliance with the U.S. as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any contentious remarks that would raise questions on his views on the U.S. and Japan. “We’ll have to now see if the pressures of office will cause Lee Jae-myung to govern from the center — at least when it comes to matters of national security and the alliance with the United States,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It’s hard to predict with absolute certainty how he will deal with the U.S., North Korea, Japan and China because he’s changed his position so much,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security. “We can expect tensions if his government doesn’t align with Washington’s approach to China and Japan.” The toughest external challenges awaiting Lee are U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and North Korea’s expanding military partnerships with Russia. But experts earlier said whoever becomes president can’t do much to secure major progress in South Korea’s favor on those issues. US, Japan and China react The U.S. and Japan said they congratulated Lee’s election and expressed their commitments to developing three-way cooperation. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he wants to hold summit talks with Lee “as early as possible,” saying he hopes to further promote bilateral ties, both public and commercial. The U.S. State Department said that Seoul and Washington share “an ironclad commitment” to the alliance. Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Lee, saying that Beijing is willing to work with Seoul to advance their cooperative partnership for the benefit of the countries’ peoples, according to state broadcaster CCTV. It’s unclear how North Korea would react to Lee’s speech, as it has shunned any talks with South Korea and the U.S. since 2019. North Korea in recent years has supplied weapons and troops to […]