South Korea elects pro-dialogue President

South Korea has polled into power, the pro-dialogue Moon Jae-in amidst rising tensions with North Korea over the latter’s nuclear policy. The new president, described as ‘left leaning liberal’ by the Guardian, ends a decade of conservative occupancy of the presidential Blue House.

The election also comes as a relief from the power vacuum that followed former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. The former president had been found guilty of concealing her friend Choi Soon-sil’s interference in policy and was accused of coercing large companies into donating vast sums to Soon-sil’s non-profit.

The new president, who lost to Geun-hye in the last presidential elections, fought the elections on an agenda of re-determination of South Korea’s voice in the peninsula’s affairs and promised reformation of South Korea’s family-run business conglomerates like Samsung, called ‘chaebol’ and increase fiscal spending to create jobs.

He had also earlier criticised the US deployment of Thermal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) in the peninsula.  The deployment, which the US says is to protect South Korean and US interests had angered China, one of South Korea’s biggest trade partners.

The son of a North Korean refugee, he is widely speculated to follow Nobel laureate Kim Dae-jung’s ‘sunshine treatment’ policy of reconciliation and dialogue with North Korea.

The ex-special forces soldier has been outspoken in his criticism of ‘North Korea’s dictatorial regime’ while acknowledging that South Korea must “embrace the North Korean people to achieve peaceful reunification one day”, and “To do that, we must recognise Kim Jong-un as their ruler and as our dialogue partner”.

The former human rights lawyer had defended students and activists persecuted under military rule in the 80’s, a regime that had started with a coup lead by Geun-hye’s father General Park Chung-hee. Jae-in would forge a close friendship with fellow lawyer Roh Moo-hyun, and would serve as Roh’s chief of staff when the latter was elected president in 2002.