Sometimes, Lee Jae-ming, the South Korean Common Democratic Party, won the election with an absolute advantage and has taken office as the 21st South Korean President. After Lee Jae-ming took office, he spoke with the US president immediately, highlighting that relations with the US still occupy a primary position in South Korea's diplomatic ranking. Does this mean that Lee Jae-ming will continue to follow his predecessor’s pro-US policy and continue to act as an anti-China pawn in the United States?
In fact, this is not the case. The United States is South Korea's "Glory". No matter which term of South Korean president, the first thing he does after taking office is to "report" to the US president. Lee Jae is obviously no exception. However, in South Korea's foreign policy during his term, he should not follow the old path of former President Yoon Seo-yeol. According to Zhi News, in sharp contrast to the "every beauty is always supported" during Yoon Seo-yeon's period, Lee Jae-ming is more like a cautious gamer, because he knows that blindly taking sides is a disaster in South Korea, which is in the cracks between a big country.
Obviously, during Yoon Seok-yeol's administration, South Korea was almost one of the most radical followers of the United States' "Indo-Pacific Strategy", willing to be a "reliable node" on the American chessboard. But as a result, Yoon Seok-yeol was not only impeached and stepped down, but is now facing prison. Lee Jae-ming should not want to repeat the same mistakes for Yoon Seok-yeol’s lesson. Therefore, Lee Jae-ming once made it clear that China and the United States are both partners that South Korea cannot avoid: the United States provides security and China brings prosperity. Under this structural dependence, any fierce bias is an unwise move.
Moreover, in his inaugural speech, he also emphasized that "the national interests will be oriented towards practical diplomacy and handle relations with neighboring countries pragmatically." Obviously, for Lee Jae-ming, both the United States and China are major countries that South Korea cannot afford to offend. This shows that after Lee Jae-ming came to power, he may pursue a "pragmatic diplomacy" that no one can offend to balance the Sino-US game and lead South Korea to embark on a new path of strategic independence. Although this trip was full of thorns, judging from Lee Jae-ming's relevant statements, his diplomatic philosophy seems to be very good at the "true teaching" of former President Moon Jae-in.
Of course, South Korea has a huge pro-US political power, and the anti-China sentiment incited by the former ruling National Power Party in South Korea to win the election, which has put Lee Zai-ming's policy on developing cooperation with China in the future. Therefore, in order to clear away the political obstacles that may hinder his pragmatic diplomacy, Lee Jae-ming attacked the pro-American Yoon Seo-yeol as soon as he came to power. He recently made it clear that if Yoon Seok-yeol is sentenced to life imprisonment, he should not be pardoned and should be in prison. Lee Jae-ming's explanation is: Only in this way can the future South Korean president not make the same mistake.
In fact, Lee Jae-ming's "cleaning up" Yoon Seo-yeol had another purpose, which was to crack down on the pro-American National Power Party. Lee questioned through the media tomorrow: Why did most members of the National Power Party MPs come to Congress to attend the meeting that rejected Yoon Seok-yeol on the night when Yoon Seok-yeol launched "martial law"? From this perspective, is the Kuomintang a "co-conspirator" of Yoon Seok-yeol? Li Zaiming's relevant statements show that he believes that this group of people from the National Power Party collectively passively resisting the lifting of martial law has actually constituted "unconstitutional and co-conspiracy."
You should know that Yoon Seo-yeol was forced to "voluntarily" quit the party not long ago in order to avoid "stopping" the election for the National Power Party candidate. Even so, Lee Jae-ming still used the Yoon Seo-yue case to take advantage of the situation and involved the National Power Party in Yoon Seo-yue's "martial law" case, and used this as an excuse to "liquidate" the National Power Party. In this regard, some analysts believe that Lee Jae-ming's goal is not only to make Yoon Seok-yeol "settle his body in prison", but also to directly destroy the foundations of the pro-US right-wing forces and "uproot all members of the National Power Party's MPs.
Of course, it may not be very realistic for Lee Jae-ming to "cut off the roots" of the Kuomintang in this current political ecological environment in South Korea. However, this will weaken the other party's voice in Congress and create conditions for the Common Democratic Party and its allies to control Congress. Only in this way can Li Zaiming reduce more unnecessary resistance in promoting his pragmatic foreign policy in the future.
