ASIA / PACIFIC
May 15, 2017
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
South Korea’s liberal presidential candidate declared victor
ELECTION VICTORY. South Korea’s new pres-
ident, Moon Jae-in, the child of refugees who fled
North Korea during the Korean War, will lead a nation
shaken by a scandal that felled his conservative prede-
cessor, Park Geun-hye, who sits in a jail cell awaiting
a corruption trial. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
By Hyung-jin Kim and Foster Klug
The Associated Press
S
EOUL, South Korea — Hours after
celebrating his election win with
thousands of supporters in wet
Seoul streets, new South Korean Presi-
dent Moon Jae-in was quickly thrown into
the job of navigating a nation deeply split
over its future and faced with growing
threats from North Korea and an uneasy
alliance with the United States.
Moon, whose victory capped one of the
most turbulent political stretches in the
nation’s recent history and set up its first
liberal rule in a decade, began his duties as
president after the National Election
Commission officially declared him the
winner after a morning meeting.
The election body finished counting
votes at 6:00am and said Moon gathered
41 percent of the votes, comfortably edging
conservative Hong Joon-pyo and centrist
Ahn Cheol-soo, who gathered 24 percent
and 21 percent of the votes, respectively.
“The National Election Commission
(NEC), based on the first clause of Article
187 of the Public Official Election Law,
determines that the Democratic Party’s
Moon Jae-in, who gathered the largest
number of valid votes, was elected as
president,” NEC chairman Kim Yong-deok
said in the televised meeting.
Shortly after the NEC declared him the
winner, Moon, as the new commander in
chief of the country’s military, received a
call from Army Gen. Lee Sun-jin,
chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of
Staff, who briefed him on the military’s
preparedness against North Korea, a
Democratic Party official said.
Moon also visited the National
Cemetery in the central city of Daejeon,
where the country’s independence fighters
and war heroes are buried, before
returning to Seoul to take the oath of office
at the National Assembly.
South Korea might see a sharp
departure from recent policy under Moon,
who favors closer ties with North Korea,
saying hardline conservative governments
did nothing to prevent the North’s develop-
ment of nuclear-armed missiles and only
reduced South Korea’s voice in inter-
national efforts to counter North Korea.
This softer approach might put him at
odds with South Korea’s biggest ally, the
United States. The Trump administration
has swung between threats and praise for
North Korea’s leader.
Moon, the child of refugees who fled
North Korea during the Korean War, will
lead a nation shaken by a scandal that
felled his conservative predecessor, Park
Geun-hye, who sits in a jail cell awaiting a
corruption trial.
Moon’s presidency foregoes the usual
two-month transition because the vote was
a by-election to choose a successor to Park,
whose term was to end in February 2018.
While this means Moon would have to
initially depend on Park’s cabinet
ministers and aides, expectations were
that he would move quickly to replace
them with people of his own.
Moon will still serve out the typical
single five-year term.
After exit polls indicated his victory,
Moon smiled and waved his hands above
his head as supporters chanted his name
at Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul,
where millions of Koreans had gathered
for months starting late last year in peace-
ful protests that eventually toppled Park.
“It’s a great victory by a great people,”
Moon told the crowd. “I’ll gather all of my
energy to build a new nation.”
Over the last six months, millions
gathered in protest after corruption
allegations surfaced against Park, who
was then impeached by parliament,
formally removed from office by a court,
and arrested and indicted by prosecutors.
Moon was chief of staff for the last
liberal president, the late Roh Moo-hyun,
who sought closer ties with North Korea by
setting up large-scale aid shipments to the
North and by working on now-stalled joint
economic projects.
Hong, the conservative, is an outspoken
former provincial governor who pitched
himself as a “strongman,” described the
election as a war between ideologies, and
questioned Moon’s patriotism.
Park’s trial later this month on bribery,
extortion, and other corruption charges
could send her to jail for life if she is
convicted. Dozens of high-profile figures,
including Park’s longtime confidante, Choi
Soon-sil, and Samsung’s de facto leader,
Lee Jae-yong, have been indicted along
with Park.
Moon frequently appeared at anti-Park
rallies and the corruption scandal boosted
his push to re-establish liberal rule. He
called for reforms to reduce social in-
equalities, excessive presidential power,
and corrupt ties between politicians and
business leaders. Many of those legacies
dated to the dictatorship of Park’s father,
Park Chung-hee, whose 18-year rule was
marked by both rapid economic rise and
severe civil-rights abuse.
As a former pro-democracy student
activist, Moon was jailed for months in the
1970s while protesting against the senior
Park.
Many analysts say Moon likely won’t
pursue drastic rapprochement policies
because North Korea’s nuclear program
has progressed significantly since he was
in the Roh government a decade ago.
A big challenge will be U.S. President
Donald Trump, who has proven himself
unconventional in his approach to North
Korea, swinging between intense pressure
and threats and offers to talk.
“South Koreans are more concerned that
Trump, rather than North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un, will make a rash military
move, because of his outrageous tweets,
threats of force, and unpredictability,”
Duyeon Kim, a visiting fellow at the
Korean Peninsula Future Forum in Seoul,
wrote recently in Foreign Affairs maga-
zine.
“It is crucial that Trump and the next
South Korean president strike up instant,
positive chemistry in their first meeting to
help work through any bilateral differ-
ences and together deal with the North
Korean challenge,” she said.
Associated Press writer Kim Tong-
hyung contributed to this report.
Moon’s turbulent life
before winning presidency
By Hyung-jin Kim
The Associated Press
S
EOUL, South Korea — Moon
Jae-in, who declared victory in the
South Korean presidential election,
has led a life as turbulent as that of the
nation he will lead.
The son of refugees who fled North
Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War,
Moon, 64, grew up in poverty and spent
time in jail for protesting military-backed
dictators. Moon later became a human-
rights lawyer and worked for the late
liberal President Roh Moo-hyun.
Here’s a short look at his life.
Childhood
Moon’s North Korean parents resettled
in South Korea’s southeast before he was
Continued on page 7
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