Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Source: Getty
Summary: For a president who was determined to break the mold in South-North relations and to support the normalization of U.S.-North Korea ties, Moon seems poised to leave office with his biggest foreign policy mark on the reinvigoration of the Seoul-Washington alliance.
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Summary
Since South Korean President Moon Jae-in entered office in May 2017, he spent the first three years of his presidency focusing on summitry with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, convincing former U.S. president Donald Trump to engage directly with Kim, stressing his own version of “draining the swamp” or rooting out corruption, and promoting wage-led economic growth. However, less than a year before Moon leaves office, his domestic and inter-Korean policies remain mired in setbacks. Surprisingly, Moon’s most enduring foreign policy legacy could lie in resetti
South Korean mayoral elections lead to government reshuffles
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kFollowing party losses in major mayoral elections, South Korean President Moon Jae-in replaced the prime minister and six cabinet members on April 16, according to
On April 7, mayoral elections were held in the South Korean capital of Seoul and the country’s second largest city of Busan.
“If Moon’s party loses, it would be a crushing defeat that would bring a political brain death for him and eliminate any momentum to push ahead with his policy agenda,” said Kim Hyung-joon, a political scientist at Myongji University in Seoul, prior to the election.
Moon says public consensus needed for granting pardons to two jailed ex-presidents April 21, 2021
President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed his prudent approach Wednesday toward the issue of whether to grant special pardons to two imprisoned former presidents, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.
He emphasized the need to consider public consensus on the politically sensitive matter and its possible impact on national unity during his luncheon meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon at Cheong Wa Dae.
Moon was responding to a proposal from the Busan mayor that Moon take the measure for the sake of promoting national unity, although he did not use the word “pardon” directly, according to a senior Cheong Wa Dae official.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s ruling party suffered a devastating defeat in a special election for key mayoral posts amid political scandals and policy blunders, vote counts showed on Thursday.
Members of South Korean ruling Democratic Party watch screens showing the result of exit polls of the Seoul mayoral by-election at the party headquarters in Seoul, South Korea April 7, 2021. Jung Yeon-je/Pool via REUTERS
Millions of South Koreans went to the polls on Wednesday to elect chiefs of the country’s two largest cities, the capital Seoul and port city of Busan, among 21 local offices up for grabs.
Opposition wins Seoul and Busan mayoral elections
Apr 08, 2021, 07:42 am
Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party shakes hands with his party members at his party’s office in Yeouido, Seoul, after news that he has outpaced his rival Park Young-sun in vote-counting for the Seoul mayoral election that took place on April 7, 2021./ Photographed by Lee Byung-hwa
AsiaToday reporter Jo Jae-hak
The April 7 by-elections was clearly a bitter judgement of the public against the Moon Jae-in administration. Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is expected to win the Seoul mayoral seat against his rival Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) by double-digit margin, an exit poll showed. In the southern port city of Busan, PPP candidate Park Heong-joon beat DP candidate Kim Young-choon by double-digit margin to win the Busan mayoral seat.