New South Korean leader offers support if North denuclearizes
Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative political neophyte, took office Tuesday as South Korea's new president with a vow to pursue a negotiated settlement of North Korea's threatening nuclear program and an offer of “an audacious plan” to improve its economy if it abandons its nuclear weapons.
Yoon is starting his single five-year term during one of the most challenging situations of any recent new president, facing a mix of significant security, economic and social problems that are besetting the world's 10th largest economy. There's widespread skepticism that an increasingly belligerent North Korea will give his offers much consideration, and South Korea's deep political and social divides, as well as growing worry about the state of the pandemic-hit economy, are reflected in a recent poll showing that Yoon faces lower popularity numbers than the departing liberal president, Moon Jae-in.
Yoon had promised a tougher stance on North Korea during his campaign, but he avoided harsh rhetoric during his inaugural speech amid growing worries that the North is preparing its first nuclear bomb test in nearly five
years. North Korea has rejected similar overtures by some of Yoon's predecessors that linked incentives to progress in its denuclearization.
“While North Korea's nuclear weapons programs are a threat, not only to our security but also to Northeast Asia, the door to dialogue will remain open so that we can peacefully resolve this threat,” Yoon told a crowd gathered outside parliament in Seoul.
“If North Korea genuinely embarks on a process to complete denuclearization, we are prepared to work with the international community to present an audacious plan that will vastly strengthen North Korea's economy and improve the quality of life for its people,” he said.
Yoon also addressed
South Korea's growing economic problems, saying the decaying job market and a widening rich-poor gap are brewing a democratic crisis by stoking “internal strife and discord” and fueling a spread of “anti-intellectualism.”
He said he would spur economic growth to heal the deep political divide and income equalities.
North Korea's advancing nuclear program is a vexing security challenge for Yoon, who won the March 9 election on a promise to strengthen South Korea's 70-year military alliance with the United States and build up its own missile capability to neutralize North Korean threats.
In recent months, North Korea has test-launched a spate of nuclear-capable missiles that could target South Korea, Japan and the mainland United States. It appears to be trying to rattle Yoon's government while modernizing its weapons arsenal and pressuring the Biden administration into relaxing sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently warned that his nuclear weapons won't be confined to their primary mission of deterring war if the North's national interests are threatened.
In a policy briefing earlier Tuesday, South Korean military chief Won In-Choul told Yoon that North Korea can conduct a nuclear test soon if Kim decides to do so. Yoon then ordered military commanders to maintain firm readiness, saying that “the security situation on the Korean Peninsula is very grave.”
Analyst Cheong SeongChang at the private Sejong Institute said there's little chance North Korea will accept Yoon's conditional support plan because the North believes South Korea must first abandon its hostile policies, by which it means regular military drills with the United States, before talks can resume.
Yoon must also deal with a destabilizing U.S.-China rivalry and disputes over history with Japan. South Korea is also bracing for the fallout of Russia's war on Ukraine in global energy markets.