South Korea's new President Moon Jae In, who was sworn in yesterday after a landslide victory, has pledged to push for national unity while trying to address the country's security and diplomatic crisis "promptly".

In his first speech as President, the former human rights lawyer vowed to defuse tension on the Korean peninsula caused by Washington and Pyongyang trading barbs on military confrontation, as well as resolve disputes with Beijing over the deployment of a US missile shield.

"If needed, I will immediately fly to Washington," he said. "I will also visit Beijing and Tokyo and even Pyongyang under the right circumstances. I remain committed to doing all I can for the settlement of peace on the Korean peninsula."

He also pledged to strengthen South Korea's alliance with the US.

Mr Moon and US President Donald Trump, in a phone call last night, reaffirmed the importance of the alliance and working together to resolve the North Korean threat, according to South Korea's presidential office.

There was no mention of Mr Moon's victory in North Korea's state media yesterday. The 64-year-old won 41.1 per cent of over 33.8 million votes cast on Tuesday, beating his closest rivals Hong Joon Pyo from the conservative Liberty Korea Party (24 per cent) and Ahn Cheol Soo from the centre-left People's Party (21.4 per cent).

Mr Moon replaces the disgraced Park Geun Hye, who was impeached and arrested over a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that triggered massive protests. She is awaiting trial on charges including colluding with her civilian friend Choi Soon Sil to extort money from conglomerates such as Samsung, under the guise of donations.

In his speech, Mr Moon vowed to "boldly break from the malpractices of old days", in a reference to the failures of the previous administration. He also pledged to create jobs and reform the powerful conglomerates that dominate the economy.

"Under the Moon Jae In administration, the term describing a cosy relationship between political and business circles will completely disappear," he said.

In a sign of his resolve to improve long-strained ties with Pyongyang, Mr Moon has appointed veterans with experience working on North Korean issues for three key positions in his new administration.

His choice for prime minister is South Jeolla province governor and former journalist Lee Nak Yon, who worked on the Sunshine Policy of engaging the North under two former liberal administrations in the 2000s. Mr Moon then named former spy agency official Suh Hoon, who played a key role in arranging two landmark summits with the North and met its late leader Kim Jong Il, as the head of the National Intelligence Service.

For Chief of Staff, Mr Moon appointed former lawmaker Im Jong Seok, who had visited North Korea as a student activist to meet former leader Kim Il Sung. As a lawmaker, he had helped to revise a law on support for South Korean firms at the joint Kaesong industrial complex, which was closed by the Park administration early last year.

Analysts said Mr Moon's North Korea policy is a pragmatic one taking in recent developments on the Korean peninsula, and not a downright return to the Sunshine Policy.

"If you carefully read his address, he only promised to meet Kim Jong Un under the right conditions. So his position is not that fundamentally different from that of US President Donald Trump," said Dr Bong Young Shik of Yonsei University's Institute for North Korean Studies.

The Trump administration's strategy of "maximum pressure and engagement" uses sanctions to squeeze North Korea while offering dialogue on the condition that Pyongyang give up nuclear weapons.

"Basically he also wants to use big sticks and big carrots, not just carrots. It's not a radically liberal North Korea policy; it is a very pragmatic policy," said Dr Bong.

Meanwhile, Mr Moon is also moving fast to set himself apart from his predecessor, who was deemed uncommunicative and authoritarian.

To stay close to the people, he plans to move the presidential office from the heavily guarded Blue House to the more accessible Gwanghwamun Square. </s> • South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to make several steps towards denuclearization to promote "a land of peace" after their summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
• One of the key parts of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration included the "permanent dismantlement" of North Korea's primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon, and allowing international inspectors to observe the disassembly of an engine test site.
• Moon prefaced this plan by noting the US needed to reciprocate the measure.
• Kim and Moon also agreed to collaborate on a bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Additionally, Kim said he "promised" to visit Seoul "in the near future."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to make several steps toward denuclearization to promote "a land of peace" after their summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

Kim and Moon signed the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, which offered more specifics than in previous agreements, in front of gaggle of news reporters for their third summit meeting. Moon arrived on Wednesday as the first South Korean president in Pyongyang in 11 years.

One of the key parts of the agreement included the "permanent dismantlement" of North Korea's primary nuclear facility in Yongbyon, and allowing international inspectors to confirm the disassembly of an engine test site. Moon prefaced this plan by noting the US needed to reciprocate the measure.

"We have agreed to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace that is free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat," Kim said. "The road to our future will not always be smooth and we may face challenges and trials we can't anticipate. But we aren't afraid of headwinds because our strength will grow as we overcome each trial based on the strength of our nation."

Kim and Moon also agreed to make a joint bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. The two countries competed together during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, despite some protests from conservative South Korean lawmakers and athletes. The move was part of an initial effort to improve relations between the two Koreas ahead of a summit between the US and North Korea, which took place in June.

Kim also said he "promised" to visit Seoul "in the near future." Moon reiterated the claim by saying that a potential visit may take place in 2018 "unless there are certain special circumstances." A visit by a North Korean leader to Seoul, the first since the Korean Peninsula was divided, would likely spark mass protests, just as it did when North Korea's delegation of athletes and musical performers visited the country during the Winter Olympics.

Former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father, made a similar promise to visit Seoul after a summit in 2000, but the trip never happened.

While the two leaders expressed cautious optimism in the months ahead, the US, South Korea's key ally, expressed concern over the developments. US-North Korean diplomatic relations have seemingly stalled after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suddenly canceled his trip to North Korea in August.

President Donald Trump embraced Kim since their June meeting in Singapore. Conversely, Trump has sought to drive a wedge between China and the North, at times scapegoating China for slowing the diplomatic process.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a skeptic of North Korea's recent outreach to the international community, said he was "concerned" over Moon's visit to Pyongyang.

"I'm concerned South Korea's visit is going to undermine efforts by [Pompeo] and [US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley] to impose maximum pressure on the North Korean regime," Graham said in a tweet on Tuesday. "While North Korea has stopped testing missiles and nuclear devices, they have NOT moved toward denuclearization."

"South Korea should not be played by Kim Jong Un," Graham added. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean liberal human rights lawyer Moon Jae In won the presidency in an election on Tuesday (May 9), exit polls showed, ending nine years of conservative rule.

Following are some of Moon's policy positions and promises he made during the campaign:

Moon has outlined a more moderate approach to North Korea and aims to revive a "sunshine policy" of engagement, pledging to ease tension and work to denuclearise the Korean peninsula by reviving six-party talks - involving the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan.

He also aims to expand economic and social exchange between the two Koreas. Moon has said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if a summit could help ease tension.

Moon aims to reform the chaebols, the family-run conglomerates that dominate Asia's fourth-biggest economy. He says the chaebols stifle smaller companies and are detrimental to the economy and has called for transparency and democratic management.

But there are questions about how radical his reforms might be and how far he will go in addressing the demands of the chaebols' critics, who urge sharply higher corporate taxes or even dismantling of the conglomerates.

Moon has said he will restrict presidential pardons for chaebol founding members in jail, and force chaebol to relinquish control of financial firms to cut inappropriate funding from financial affiliates to other related businesses.

Moon has pledged to strengthen diplomatic and economic cooperation with main allies and neighbours the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

At the same time, he has promised a "National Interest First" approach and wrote in a book published in January that South Korea should learn to "say no to America".

Moon said the new administration should make a final decision on the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Moon will also seek a summit with China to resolve a dispute over the system, which China sees as a threat to its security.

He has also vowed to enhance a self-reliant defence capability. Plans include the transfer of wartime operational control of the South Korean military from the United States during his presidency and the early deployment of a pre-emptive strike system "Kill Chain", and a homegrown missile defence system called Korea Air and Missile Defense.

Moon said he will push immediately for a supplementary budget to create jobs. He has said the budget could rise by more than 10 trillion won ($8.80 billion) from a current 400.5 trillion won approved for this year. He said he would aim to boost investment in 10 key sectors.

Moon says he expects to create, on average, more than 500,000 new jobs a year. He aims to create 810,000 jobs in the public sector during his five-year term, including 514,000 in service sectors across welfare agencies, schools and in police stations. Some temporary positions at public agencies will be turned into regular positions, to improve working conditions and job security.

He has promised to increase the minimum wage to 10,000 won (S$12.40) an hour by 2020, from 6,470 won. He has also called for a cut in working hours to about 1,800 a year, from an average of 2,113 hours as of 2015.

Moon has pledged to raise the basic pension to 300,000 won a month from a maximum of 206,050 won, from the age of 65. The pension will be given out to 70 per cent of the elderly classified as low-income. He also pledged to double a subsidy given to mothers in the first six months of maternity leave to up to 2 million won a month, from 1 million won.

Moon has pledged to phase out coal and nuclear energy to address public concerns over air pollution and safety, and has set a target to increase the share of renewables to 20 percent of total power generation by 2030.

Moon promised to relocate the presidential office to a government complex in central Seoul, in an overhaul of presidential powers. He argues that the seclusion of the presidential complex known as the Blue House prevents communication with the public. He says he will fully disclose his day-by-day schedule to ensure the public knows what their president is doing. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - As hundreds of thousands of South Koreans poured into the streets every weekend for two months to call for President Park Geun-hye to resign, the opposition’s leading contender to replace her appeared reluctant to seize the moment.

Moon Jae-in (C), former human rights lawyer and presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party, attends a campaign encouraging people to vote, in Seoul, South Korea December 19, 2012. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

That is changing as Moon Jae-in, a 63-year-old human rights lawyer who lost the 2012 election to Park by more than a million votes, has in recent days taken a higher public profile as he seeks to lead the liberal Democratic Party into the next election and end eight years of conservative rule.

Like many on the left, he calls for sweeping reform of the chaebol - the big conglomerates that dominate the economy and have been at the heart of the current political crisis - calling them a “source of unfairness” in South Korea.

He promises to move the presidential office into a multi-purpose government building and turn the palace-like Blue House, where Park remains while a court decides her fate after she was impeached by parliament, into a public museum.

He has also said that, if elected, he would visit rival North Korea before making a trip to South Korea’s main ally, the United States. Just two North-South summits have been held since the 1950-53 Korean war that divided the peninsula.

“The people who are angry in Korea want regime change, and the most realistic option and most probable person to do that is Moon Jae-in,” Yang Jung-chul, a close aide to Moon, told Reuters.

Moon had led opinion polls in recent weeks, although a survey released on Thursday by Realmeter showed he had fallen just behind United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, by 23.1 percent to 22.2 percent.

Ban has yet to declare his candidacy or party affiliation, but has been expected to join a conservative grouping.

Moon’s popularity among liberals stems from his time as chief of staff to South Korea’s last liberal president, Roh Moo-hyun, a figure revered by the left for his experimental and anti-establishment politics that sought chaebol reform.

“Moon is a symbol of that experiment,” said Yang.

But Roh, derided by conservatives for his pursuit of engagement with North Korea that they say failed to change Pyongyang’s behavior, could also be Moon’s undoing, especially among South Korea’s elderly.

The majority of people aged over 60, most of whom are conservative, have turned out to vote in the last three presidential elections, according to National Election Commission data. In 2012, 85.9 percent of over-60s voted.

By contrast, the least-avid voting group is people in their 20s or 30s, many of whom took to the streets for the first time during recent candle-lit protests in Seoul. At the last election their turnout levels were below 65 percent.

That was high, by recent standards, for the demographic, but Moon will need to convince an even bigger share of them to turn out and vote for him in the upcoming election, which is no sure thing.

“He has a tendency to make ambiguous comments and be overly-cautious of crossing lines,” said Moon Ji-hyun, a student activist at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. “He wasn’t in the frontlines at the early stages of the protests.”

The Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold parliament’s Dec. 9 motion to impeach Park, which could take up to 180 days and, if successful, trigger an election two months later.

SWEET POTATO

Moon’s parents fled North Korea during the Korean War and resettled in Busan, at the south of the peninsula, where Moon grew up in a shanty town.

He was jailed in 1975 for protesting against the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee, President Park’s father, whose rule lasted 18 years. After leaving mandatory military service, where he served in the special forces, Moon became a lawyer.

As leader of the opposition last year, Moon adopted a more centrist stance to win over skeptics. But just 8 percent of those polled at the time said they thought Moon’s party was best on economic issues, compared with 44 percent for the ruling Saenuri Party.

“To win undecided voters, Moon needs to address security, diplomacy and unification, where many are distrustful of him,” said Lee Chung-hee, a politics professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.

Moon came under fire earlier this year for revelations in a former foreign minister’s memoir that he had backed a motion to abstain from a United Nations vote against North Korea’s human rights record.

While Moon leads the race to represent his party in the election, new stars have risen.

One is Lee Jae-myung, the mayor of Seongnam, just south of Seoul, who has gone from rank outsider to third place in polls, riding the crisis with populist speeches.

By contrast, Moon’s caution and deliberate speaking style has earned him the nickname “sweet potato” - slow to cook, slow to eat, and a little difficult to swallow.

Lee, meanwhile, has been dubbed “soda” for his refreshing new take on politics.

In a recent radio interview, Moon said the Seongnam mayor was indeed like soda - refreshing but, unlike his own nickname, lacking substance. </s> SEOUL — South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a broad agreement on Wednesday morning in Pyongyang that both said would usher in a new era of peace on the Korean peninsula.

At a news conference held in Pyongyang’s state guesthouse Paekhwawon, President Moon said that North Korea will permanently dismantle its Donchang-ri missile engine test site and launch pad and would allow international inspectors to observe. He added that the North would take the further step of closing its Yongbyon nuclear facility if the United States responded with further concessions.

"The South and the North also discussed denuclearization steps for the first time," Moon said of his talks with Kim in a joint press conference held at the North's state guesthouse Paekhwawon.

The Yonhap News Agency reported Kim Jong Un said he and Moon had agreed to remove all nuclear weapons and threats from the Korean Peninsula.

"The September declaration will open a higher level for the improvement in relations (between the South and the North) ... and bring closer the era of peace and prosperity," Kim was quoted.

The defense ministers of both countries also signed agreements which Seoul said included measures to reduce military tensions on the divided peninsula.

At the conference, which was broadcast live on South Korean television, President Moon said that Kim had agreed to visit Seoul in the near future and that the two Koreas would bid to jointly host the 2032 Summer Olympics. </s> South Korean president on Thursday appealed for the support of the country to ensure the success of the upcoming summit with Pyongyang, calling it a rare opportunity to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea.

Moon Jae-in's appeal came during a meeting held in Seoul with a group of government advisers and other officials where he stressed the need for collective determination in the face of a summit that has led to some mistrust among the conservative parties and some segments of South Korean society. </s> South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Thursday for the North Korean nuclear crisis to be "managed stabley", so that peace can be maintained. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to send a special envoy to North Korea in response to an invitation from leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Thursday.

The two presidents discussed recent visits to the South by high-level North Korean officials, the presidential Blue House in Seoul said in a statement.

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last month gave a boost to recent engagement between the two Koreas after more than a year of sharply rising tensions over the North’s missile programme and its sixth and largest nuclear test in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

“(Moon and Trump) agreed to continue to make efforts to head towards the Korean peninsula’s denuclearisation by maintaining the momentum of South-North dialogue,” the Blue House statement said.

In Washington, a White House statement on the two leaders’ call said Moon briefed Trump“on developments regarding North Korea and inter-Korean talks” but did not elaborate.

“The president wants to continue working with South Korea. It’s a strong ally. We have no daylight between the two of us. We’re going to continue those conversations,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters later on Thursday.

“The ultimate goal is to denuclearise the peninsula. That’s what we’re focused on and we’re excited about any steps moving forward in that process,” she said.

In sending an envoy to Pyongyang, Moon said he would be seeking to reciprocate for the senior delegations sent to the Olympics by Kim Jong Un, including his sister, Kim Yo Jong, the first visit by a member of the North’s ruling bloodline since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Kim Yo Jong delivered her brother’s invitation for Moon to visit Pyongyang. Such a visit would mark the first inter-Korean summit since 2007.

Moon is considering South Korea’s intelligence service chief Suh Hoon and Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon as a possible special envoy to discuss the proposal, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Other candidates include Moon’s chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, the officials said.

Suh and Cho served in an earlier liberal administration that championed the“sunshine” policy of inter-Korean engagement.

A Unification Ministry spokesman told a news briefing on Friday Moon would send an envoy“soon”, once preparations had been made.

Moon also planned to send high-level officials to Washington as early as next week to further facilitate conditions for talks with North Korea, a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Senior officials from Pyongyang visiting South Korea for the Olympics said on Sunday their government was open to talks with the United States, while the White House said any talks with North Korea must lead to an end of its nuclear programme.

Moon has urged North Korea and the United States to talk to resolve the issue of Pyongyang’s weapons programme, which Kim has said he will never abandon.

Seoul urged Washington and Pyongyang to give ground to allow for talks in the latest attempt to defuse the crisis over North Korea’s weapons programmes.

The North rejected Trump’s claim that he had helped advance inter-Korean talks with his“maximum pressure” campaign.

Washington unveiled its largest package of sanctions against Pyongyang last week as Trump warned of a“phase two” that could be“very, very unfortunate for the world” if the steps did not work.

The North’s official KCNA news agency described the latest sanctions as Trump’s“desperate” effort to stifle the country economically.

“It is really miserable to see that the Trump group clings frenziedly to the sanctions and pressure, still harbouring an illusion that they would work on us,” KCNA said on Thursday, citing a policy research director at the foreign ministry’s Institute for American Studies. </s> South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, poses with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong during a meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. Moon said the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and both parties should start a dialogue soon. Moon asked for China's support for U.S-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China will help facilitate such talks. (Bae Jae-man/Yonhap via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president said Monday that the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and that the two countries should start a dialogue soon.

President Moon Jae-in made the remarks in a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong one day after a senior North Korean official told Moon that his country is willing to open talks with the United States.

The officials were in South Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Sunday.

According to his office, Moon asked for China's support for U.S.-North Korea talks, and Liu responded that China would help facilitate them. Moon also said that North Korea should show a commitment to denuclearization, something it has refused to do.

Earlier, the U.S. said the international community needs to maintain maximum pressure on North Korea until it gives up its nuclear weapons development.

"We will see if Pyongyang's message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearization," the White House said in a statement.

Moon met Sunday with a North Korean delegation led by Kim Yong Chol, a former general whom South Korea has accused of being behind two attacks on the South that killed 50 people in 2010. Kim told Moon that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to improve ties with Washington and had "ample intentions of holding talks," according to the South Korean president's office.

The North Korean delegation met with Moon's national security chief on Monday. Moon's office said the two sides agreed that the Olympics had been a meaningful stepping stone toward restoring inter-Korean ties, and to continue to collaborate to seek a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean protesters burned a North Korean flag and used a knife to slash a portrait of Kim Jong Un near a hotel where the North Korean delegation was staying.
Moon Jae-in pledges to make South Korea "a just, united country."