This article was originally published on Foreign Policy.
Yoon Suk-yeol’s victory tightens the alliance with Washington.
Populist conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s victory in the recent South Korean presidential election is a victory for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Primarily campaigning on an effort to reduce soaring housing prices, Yoon appealed to social traditionalism and populist economics to draw in voters. For Washington, Yoon’s victory will strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance and reinvigorate this vitally strategic partnership. For the last five years, the leftist Moon administration in Seoul has appeased Pyongyang. Yoon’s victory will be a boon for the U.S.-South Korea alliance and strengthening South Korea’s own democratic defenses against North Korean antagonism.
Outgoing President Moon Jae-in’s inter-Korea policy was premised on the naive belief that dialogue with Pyongyang would yield tangible peacebuilding measures. His party’s candidate in the 2022 election, Lee Jae-myung, would have continued this approach. Moon continuously sought to sign a peace treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would ostensibly end the Korean War.
Benjamin R. Young is an assistant professor at the Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World.
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