SEOUL, May 10 (BNA) South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol was sworn in on Tuesday, pledging to rebuild the nation on the basis of liberal democracy and a market economy and offering to revive North Korea’s economy with a “bold plan.” It must take steps to denuclearize.
Yoon made the remarks in his inaugural address at the National Assembly Square, outlining the various challenges facing the country and the world from epidemics and realignment in global supply chains to record low growth and rising unemployment in South Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.
He said before, “It is our generation’s call to build a nation that embraces liberal democracy and ensures a thriving market economy, a nation that fulfills its responsibility as a trusted member of the international community, and a nation that truly belongs to the people.” About 41,000 people gathered at the ceremony, noting that he realizes his “serious duty to rebuild this great nation.”
Yun said he looked forward to working with other countries to resolve common challenges and stressed the importance of defending political and economic freedoms to ensure their success.
“We, as global citizens, must take a stand against any attempt aimed at taking away our freedom, violating human rights or destroying peace,” he said.
Yoon also offered North Korea an olive branch amid growing shouts of swords
“While North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs pose a threat not only to our security and the security of Northeast Asia, the door to dialogue will remain open until we can resolve this threat peacefully,” he said.
“If North Korea sincerely embarks on a process to complete denuclearization, we are ready to work with the international community to present a bold plan that will greatly enhance North Korea’s economy and improve the quality of life for its people.”
Yun’s inauguration marks the beginning of a difficult battle to avert an economic crisis, win the cooperation of the opposition-controlled parliament, and rein in an increasingly dangerous North Korea.
Yun began his five-year tenure at midnight in the underground bunker of the new presidential office building in Yongsan by receiving a briefing from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
To usher in the new administration, a midnight bell-ring ceremony was held in downtown Seoul.
The opening ceremony was attended by 41,000 people, including foreign envoys such as US number two Douglas Imhoff and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, a gathering that until recently was impossible due to coronavirus restrictions.
After the ceremony, Yoon will head straight to the new presidential office which he struggled so hard to release as a sign of his desire to get closer to the audience.
Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential office built on an imposing complex at the foot of a mountain, was seen by Yun as a “symbol of imperial power.”
Yun is taking charge at a time when South Korea is struggling to deal with economic challenges stemming from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and other factors that have led to the “three simultaneous rises” in inflation, interest rates and exchange rates.
The incoming government has championed “economic security” amid increasing competition between the United States and China to secure supply chains in batteries, semiconductors, and other key sectors.
The danger of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs looms more than ever, as the communist nation appears to be preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test early this month, shortly after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons proactively, rather than So. of having it only as a war deterrent if anyone tries to violate the country’s “essential interests”.
Economic security and North Korea are expected to be high on the agenda for Yoon’s first summit with US President Joe Biden in Seoul on May 21.
Biden’s visit, scheduled for May 20-22, will come just 10 days after Yun took office, and their planned meeting will be the first-ever Korea-US summit after the inauguration of a South Korean president.
Yun also faces the daunting task of repairing deeply fractured relations with Japan.
During the campaign, he indicated his desire to build a future-oriented relationship with the neighboring country despite unresolved disputes over wartime sex slaves, forced labor, and territory arising from Tokyo’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Last month, he sent a policy advisory delegation to Japan with a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
With China, Yun faces a difficult balancing act, as Beijing’s cooperation is key to reining in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and maintaining a strong bilateral trade relationship, while the president has pledged to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system to South Korea — a major irritant to Beijing — and is seeking to South Korea’s gradual entry into the Quartet Security Dialogue, a US-led forum seen as resisting the rise of China.
On the home front, Yoon faces a hostile National Assembly controlled by the main opposition Democratic Party.
With 168 seats out of 300, the Democratic Party delayed the parliamentary approval process for Yoon’s government candidates, forcing the new government to hold its first cabinet meeting this week with several members of the outgoing administration.
Legislative obstacles were clearly visible in the transition team’s decision to delay the government’s reorganization, including whether it would keep Yoon’s campaign promise to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
With the June 1 local elections just weeks away, the new government also wants to avoid a scenario in which Yun’s ruling People’s Power Party loses the election or the seven parliamentary by-elections are held simultaneously too early in his term.
On Sunday, Yoon’s rival in the election, Lee Jae-myung, announced a return to politics earlier than expected by announcing his candidacy for one of the parliamentary seats offered in the by-election.
Yun’s popularity ratings were only around 50 percent, one of the lowest for an elected president, highlighting the deep political divisions in South Korean society.
Until just over a year ago, Yoon, 61, was the country’s top prosecutor with a reputation for conducting high-profile investigations with powerful figures, such as former President Park Geun-hye and former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk.
The investigations earned him the ire of conservatives first, then liberals. In the end, it was the Conservatives who summoned him into politics and elected him to the top position, the first time the government had switched between the Liberals and the Conservatives after a single five-year term.
The gap between Yun and his main rival was only 0.73 percentage points.