New South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office Wednesday with a vow to end the “politics of division” and carry out a “pragmatic” approach to governing after riding a wave of anxiety about the economy and political instability to victory in an election that will have broad ramifications for Seoul’s relations with Tokyo, Washington and Pyongyang.
In an inauguration speech before lawmakers and officials from his ruling Democratic Party and the opposition at the National Assembly, Lee, 61, pledged “to make hope bloom on deep and great wounds and to ... create a completely new country,” adding that he would be “a president for everyone.”
Lee, who was the front-runner for the entire 60-day presidential campaign, won 49% of the vote, besting his conservative rival, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party (PPP), by 8 percentage points in Tuesday’s snap election, which was held exactly six months after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law only to rescind it hours later.
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