South Korea’s newly inaugurated leftist president, Lee Jae-myung, announced his intent Thursday to prioritize closer ties with North Korea, China, and Russia, signaling a sharp departure from the staunch U.S. alliance under his impeached conservative predecessor. Lee’s comments came during a press conference marking his first month in office.
Lee, representing the Democratic Party, vowed to pursue peace with Pyongyang and to strengthen diplomatic ties with Beijing and Moscow, despite China’s close relationship with North Korea and Russia’s military pact with Pyongyang. He emphasized that efforts to engage the North would be conducted in coordination with the United States and President Donald Trump, who has reasserted U.S. influence on the peninsula.
Lee’s approach contrasts sharply with former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who prioritized defense ties with the U.S. and opposed communist influence. Yoon’s ousting followed a failed attempt to impose martial law, leaving Lee to redirect South Korean foreign policy toward accommodation with totalitarian regimes.
During the press event, Lee praised the rapid response from North Korea following his suspension of anti-regime loudspeaker broadcasts along the border — a goodwill gesture not seen since the failed Sunshine Policy of the late 1990s. He also dismissed any talk of unification through absorption, stating, “Unification is still possible even hundreds of years from now.”
Lee’s administration is also in talks to attend China’s World War II anniversary celebrations, a move likely to strain relations with Japan. Beijing, meanwhile, has been quick to embrace Lee, with dictator Xi Jinping sending a congratulatory letter emphasizing the two nations’ “good-neighborliness.”
Lee expressed uncertainty over reaching a new trade deal with the Trump administration before the July 8 tariff deadline. “Tariff negotiations are definitely not easy,” he said, signaling unresolved tensions in the bilateral relationship.
