On March 9, the Biden administration may have felt that it dodged a bullet when conservative Yoon Suk-yeol was elected president of the Republic of Korea (ROK, aka South Korea) for a five-year term.
Unlike his defeated leftist opponent and the previous Moon Jae-in administration, Yoon strongly supports the ROK-U.S. alliance. Its military component favors a tough stance toward North Korea, is suspicious of China, and is even willing to get relations with Japan back on track.
Now American and South Korean alliance managers can get to work rebuilding defenses—and doing what’s necessary to handle North Korea while keeping an eye on China’s steadily expanding military might.
Focusing on defense is important—and essential. But the Americans should also pay close attention to the South Korean economy. This will do as much to bolster the alliance as anything on the defense front.
You see, Yoon and the conservatives (by definition “pro-American”) won by a razor-thin margin–about 250,000 votes out of 34 million votes cast. And while foreign affairs and North Korea are not unimportant to many voters, it’s the economy that matters most for a majority. Former Moon’s leftist administration’s failure to deliver on the economy—jobs and housing in particular—over the last five years is most likely what sunk the leftist candidate two weeks ago.
South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a news conference to address his relocation plans of the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, on March 20, 2022. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool via AP)
So helping Yoon improve South Korea’s economy—and getting credit for it—is in Washington’s self-interest, if not an urgent strategic imperative.
Recent history explains why Team Biden should act soon if U.S. and South Korean defenses are to be strengthened, a less accommodating stance toward China and North Korea is to be taken, and ROK-Japan ties to be improved.
In 2017, the…
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