Meet your new mayor: Yoo Jeong-bok
Welcome back to Surviving in the World (SIW), your biweekly newsletter written by students, for students interested in global affairs. We always strive to present selected global news topics in an easy-to-understand format.
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Today’s letter is the first in a special series covering various phenomena occurring in South Korea, starting with President Yoon on Facing the North Korean Threat.
Brought to you by Hanna Lee, politics correspondent (’26).
Word Count: 494 / Time: 3 minute read.
President Yoon was interviewed by CNN on the everlasting North Korean threat (source: CNN)
Former policy: Before we move on with the current discussion, let’s glance at Moon Jae-In’s Policy on the Korean Peninsula. According to the Ministry of Unification in South Korea, the direct definition and its objective proclaim:
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“Is a long-term and comprehensive policy led by Korea to realize ‘peace’ and ‘prosperity’ on the Korean Peninsula as well as Northeast Asia with North Korea, regional neighbors, and the international society.”
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There are Three Goals, Four Strategies, and Five Principles that undeniably devise a typification of a peaceful and amicable relationship with North Korea, fundamentally to pursue unification. This validates how the previous president, Moon Jae-In, has demanded plenty of policies and efforts to unify North Korea peacefully.
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Current affair: “The age of appeasing North Korea is over, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must initiate any new talks between Seoul and Pyongyang,” South Korea's new conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol announced on Monday, May 23rd.
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Why so?
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North Korea has launched 15 missile tests so far this year -- more than in the prior two years combined -- and last month Kim pledged to "strengthen and develop" its nuclear forces at the "highest possible" speed.
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From Yoon’s new presidential office at the former defense building in Seoul, he told CNN South Korea and its allies stand ready for any acts of North Korean provocation.
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"Just to escape temporarily North Korean provocation or antagonism is not something that we should do," he said, implying the previous liberal administration's mollifying strategy. "This style of approach over the past five years has proven to be a failure."
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Yoon, a former prosecutor, and newcomer to politics, has consistently emphasized his tougher stance on North Korea and desire to strengthen the South's military -- a departure from predecessor Moon Jae-in, who had promoted dialogue and peaceful appeasement.
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Despite his stance, Yoon said Monday he didn't want North Korea to "collapse."
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"What I want is shared and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," he said -- but added, "I do not believe that enhancing North Korea's nuclear capability is helpful and conducive to maintaining international peace."
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