Lee Jae-myung calls for stronger U.S. alliance, more regional engagement to counter North's threats
Published: 26 May. 2025, 18:14
Updated: 26 May. 2025, 18:25
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, center, speaks to students at Ajou University in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 26. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/26/3c9faa17-8b05-4461-aa6c-5c77069fc170.jpg)
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, center, speaks to students at Ajou University in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 26. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
[NEWS ANALYSIS]
Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung laid out a vision of more active engagement with all of South Korea’s regional neighbors on Monday, but offered few clues as to how he would rein in the North’s weapons development or cooperation with Russia.
“North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities are growing daily,” Lee warned in a Facebook post. “We can no longer leave this unchecked.” He pledged to “work closely with our ally, the United States, and pursue a multilayered framework of enforcement with the international community.”
His call for closer cooperation with Washington to dissuade Pyongyang from developing more advanced weapons marks a notable shift from the approach taken by the previous liberal administration led by President Moon Jae-in, who prioritized engagement with the North and China and downscaled joint exercises with the U.S. military.
Lee, by contrast, emphasized the necessity of reinforcing Seoul’s alliance with Washington to contain Pyongyang’s weapons programs.
“Strengthening Seoul’s defense capabilities is key to achieving security,” the candidate said, promising to bolster the South Korea-U.S. joint deterrence posture and maintain readiness through the three-axis defense system — a comprehensive strategy to detect, neutralize and retaliate against a potential attack by North Korea.
Lee further promised to “restore mutual trust” in the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which he argued had been damaged by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law in December last year.
Given the high popularity of the alliance in public surveys, the DP candidate’s call for stronger relations between Seoul and Washington could be aimed at consolidating his support among politically moderate and even some conservative voters.
He also committed to enhancing civilian oversight of the military, vowing to prevent its use in “illegal and unconstitutional coups.”
Notably, Lee expressed support for “solidifying cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan,” the groundwork for which was laid by Yoon at a trilateral summit at Camp David in 2023 with then-U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
By calling Tokyo an “important partner,” the DP candidate signaled a shift from his own party’s traditionally wary posture toward Japan, which occupied the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
While promising to “take a principled stance on historical and territorial issues,” Lee also said he would adopt “a forward-looking and future-oriented stance in the social, cultural and economic spheres to build a consistent and solid foundation for relations between South Korea and Japan.”
In the post, Lee also laid out his plans regarding South Korea’s strained relationships with regional neighbors China and Russia.
“China is an important trading partner and has an impact on the security of the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “I will manage the South Korea-China relationship, which reached its worst state under the previous administration, in a stable manner.”
He said relations with Moscow would also be guided by Seoul’s national interests, and floated the idea that Seoul could assist in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction.
Notably absent from his comments, however, was any mention of the deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, which has raised alarms among security analysts in Seoul and Washington.
Lee also promised to reopen inter-Korean communication channels, including military hotlines suspended by the North during Yoon’s term.
Still, he acknowledged the limits of engagement in the current geopolitical climate, conceding that an inter-Korean summit would be “too difficult” at present.
![Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung campaigns in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on May 26. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/05/26/de97f7e7-8c46-44cf-b0ae-cd90be1face9.jpg)
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung campaigns in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on May 26. [YONHAP]
At a campaign event at Ajou University in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Monday, the candidate suggested that Seoul could play a supporting role in rekindling dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
Noting that U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Lee told reporters that “South Korea should help” facilitate such a meeting.
In his Facebook post, Lee said his North Korean policies will be based on “mutually beneficial inter-Korean dialogue and exchange that resonates with the public.”
He further promised to “try to improve the state of North Korean human rights” by “focusing on humanitarian support for South Koreans suffering from the division [of the pensinsula], such as separated families, abductees, prisoners of war and North Korean defectors.”
But he cautioned against politicizing the issue. “North Korea policy should not be used as a political cudgel,” he said, alluding to accusations from the conservative People Power Party that the DP is overly conciliatory toward Pyongyang.
Lee also ruled out any possibility of South Korea developing its own nuclear arsenal.
“Going nuclear is neither realistic nor acceptable while we try to convince the North to abandon its own nuclear weapons,” he said.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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