South Korea has a new president (who already has a problem in hand)

New president has a troubled moderation between the US and China in the midst of a trade war that affects his country.

The new president of South Korea, Lee Jae-myungofficially began his five-year term today, shortly after the country’s National Elections Commission confirmed his victory in Tuesday’s presidential elections.

Since the state summit had been empty since the deposition of Yoon Suk Yeol, Lee Jae-Myung immediately took office after the certification of his victory, without the usual transition period between two leaders.

Old manufacturing worker, 60, Lee Jae-Myung won the elections with 49.42% of the votes against 41.15% of his right-wing opponentconservative Kim Moon-soo, according to the final results published by the Commission. Kim admitted the defeat and congratulated Lee at night.

Lee takes command of an ultra-polarized country whose economy was weakened by the global trade wars declared by US President Donald Trump.

A challenge called Trump

The new president will now have to define the South Korea’s place in the confrontation between China, its largest commercial partner, and the United Statesthe traditional guarantee of the country’s security.

The head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, congratulated the new head of state in a press release, referring to “Inquatable” Seoul-Washington alliance.

But the trade war started by Trump is the great challenge to face by Lee Jae-Myung. According to, the South Koreans were in trouble when Trump imposed 25% rates on all South Korean imports In April, after already hitting the country with aggressive tariffs on its main industries – steel and cars.

The arrival in Lee’s power, whose democratic party has a large majority in Parliament, restores institutional normality in a country that still resents the six months of political chaos that followed the attempted coup d’état Yoon Suk Yeol.

On the night from December 3 to 4, 2024, the former right -wing president, whose initiatives were blocked by a hostile national assembly, suddenly decreed martial law, Having returned behind a few hours later, under the pressure of Parliament and thousands of protesters.

As a result, he was deprived of office and accused of “insurrection”, a capital crime for which he is currently being tried. Since its suspension in December, there has been an unprecedented succession of internal presidents.

It is expected that Lee now reinforces institutional control mechanisms In order to ensure greater accountability of elected employees, creating measures that prevent the repetition of chaos lived by the country in the last six months.

In addition to the external threats to the main engines of the South Korean economy, another of the major internal challenges that Lee and the country’s future leaders face is that of birth rate, Currently the lowest in the world. Lee receives a demographic bomb that threatens to halve the country’s population by 2100.

On the external level, in addition to the customs rights of the states and China, Lee Jae-Myung will also have deal with your North Korean neighborwith whom relationships have crossed a period of extreme tension during Yoon’s presidency, which is an apostle of the hard line against Pyongyang.