(FOCUS) A year later, Lee’s ‘pragmatic’ diplomacy has produced successes, but Pyongyang remains distant | YONHAP NEWS AGENCY

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) — The so-called “pragmatic” approach to foreign policy advocated by President Lee Jae Myung can boast of having succeeded in overcoming without much effort the many obstacles that presented itself to it during this first year in power. His management of the threat of American customs duties and relations with China and Japan were able to dispel the doubts that remained when the former leader of the Democratic Party was elected, he who had often been critical of Japan and the United States.

Despite this, relations with North Korea remain inexorably deadlocked despite numerous calls for a resumption of dialogue, and several important issues still under negotiation with the United States promise to be new critical tests for Lee’s presidency.

Since taking office on June 4, 2025, Lee has championed the idea of ​​pragmatic and “national interest-centered” diplomacy, promising to seek above all to ensure that this primarily benefits the country and its citizens.

By placing the priority of his international policy on the alliance with the United States, he was able to somewhat alleviate the fears of those who expected him to remain in line with some of his predecessors from the left camp, who had favored a rapprochement with China.

“South Korea can no longer continue to adopt a posture where it (relies) on the United States for its security and on China for its economy, as it has done in the past,” however, admitted Lee during a session of a think tank in Washington last August. “South Korea is now in a position where it cannot act or make decisions that go against Washington’s basic policy direction.”

Relations with US President Donald Trump got off to an auspicious start with a state visit to Washington in August, which came just days after Seoul secured a reduction in so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on goods from 25% to 15%. South Koreans arriving in the United States. In exchange, Seoul has committed to investing $350 billion on American soil.

A final agreement including trade and security aspects was concluded by the two heads of state at the end of last October, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit which was held in Gyeongju, in the south-east of the country. Seoul obtained important victories for national security, since Washington gave the green light in principle to allow South Korea to acquire nuclear submarines, enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

While he was a deputy, Lee had often opposed the rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo initiated by his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol who seemed to put aside all the unresolved questions of the legacy of Japanese colonization. He also strongly denounced Tokyo’s decision to dump contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the sea, even though Tokyo assured that it was treated to remove most of the radioactive material.

All this raised fears of a new period of cold weather with the neighboring country, but as soon as he became president, Lee proposed approaching these relations by distinguishing the problems linked to their past from more general questions of bilateral ties. For him, seeking to strengthen trade and cooperation with Japan, in an uncertain commercial and geopolitical context, is not incompatible before firmness on the issues of reparations for former Korean victims of sexual slavery or forced labor, official recognition of past crimes and Tokyo’s claims on the Dokdo islets.

Lee made this clear when he chose Japan for his first trip abroad, unheard of since most of his predecessors preferred to go to the United States first.

In the space of a year, Lee had six face-to-face meetings with Japanese leaders, including three with current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a sign of a genuine desire to maintain these relations.

Their respective visits, carried out as part of what the two countries call “shuttle diplomacy”, continued this year with Lee traveling in January to Nara, where Takaichi grew up and began his political career, while she came this month to Andong, Lee’s birthplace. The filmed moment where Lee and Takaichi, a former drummer in a band, played drums together on K-pop songs created a buzz around the world and was celebrated in the foreign press as a signal of good relations.

The current administration has also worked to repair ties with China, South Korea’s largest trading partner and North Korea’s traditional ally, which may grant it some influence over politics in Pyongyang. Relations with Beijing had deteriorated under Yoon’s presidency as he tried to solidify the alliance with Washington.

After the first face-to-face meeting between Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit, National Security Advisor Wi Sung-lac did not hesitate to declare that this marked the “complete restoration” of these ties bilateral.

“The two parties agreed to strengthen political trust between their governments in order to establish solid foundations for the development of (these) relations,” he said then. “We will activate regular high-level communication channels to improve strategic dialogue on bilateral issues, as well as regional and global issues.”

Subsequently, Beijing decided to suspend for a year its sanctions against American subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean Co., a South Korean shipbuilding company, and removed one of the three Chinese structures which were located in the Yellow Sea where the exclusive economic zones of the two countries overlap, a subject which is a source of discord for decades.

All this obviously does not mean that Lee did not experience failure or setbacks during this first year. The massive investment project in the United States was delayed due to legislative procedures taking longer than expected, which seems to have had an impact on their relations and put a damper on discussions on submarines and civilian nuclear power. Even if South Korea, like all other countries, now seems sheltered from part of the customs duties wanted by the White House, it currently prefers to continue negotiations for the security compensation promised by Washington.

Lee had announced very early that he hoped to accomplish during his mandate the return of operational control (OPCON) of the South Korean army in time of war, which has remained in the hands of the Americans since the Korean War (1950-1953). Although there are agreements on how to proceed and the conditions, opinions differ on the timetable, with Seoul considering that this could be done in 2027 or 2028, while the commander of the United States Forces in South Korea (USFK), Xavier Brunson, said he believes that the conditions will be met only in 2029.

Finally, Seoul was accused of discrimination against American companies by members of Capitol Hill, following investigations and threats of sanctions made against the online commerce company Coupang, based in the United States but generating most of its turnover in South Korea. Coupang is suspected of being too lax in its security protocols, which allegedly exposed the private data of two-thirds of the country’s adult population. This affair also seems to have weighed on security discussions.

Concerning North Korea, practically no progress has been made, Pyongyang having so far ignored Seoul’s outstretched hand. The North Korean Constitution was revised this year to no longer mention a possible Korean reunification and also to redefine relations between the two Koreas as those of two states hostile to each other.

Hopes for a new meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have still not materialized. The most encouraging sign so far was the visit to South Korea of ​​a North Korean women’s football club, Naegohyang FC, last week to play two matches in the Asian Women’s Champions League, which they ultimately won.

“At present, there are no visible signs suggesting that the North wants to resume dialogue,” Foreign Minister Cho Hyun conceded Thursday in an interview with the Yonhap news agency. He had just met his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who was able to travel to Pyongyang earlier in the week. “I am confident that the North will eventually respond, if only gradually, to our efforts to ease tensions and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

fabien@yna.co.kr

(FIN)