How will the newly-elected President Lee Jae-myung deal with North Korea?
Special Edition: President Lee and North Korea
July 8, 2025
South Korea’s newly elected president Lee Jae-myung wants to improve relations with its northern neighbors to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. However, with the United States removing troops, Chinese influence expanding across the Indo-Pacific, and Kim Jong-un creating a strategic partnership with Vladimir Putin, President Lee’s prospects on de-escalation seem slim at best. How will this new administration engage with North Korea as the United States, China, and Russia seek to advance their national interests on the peninsula?
Last week, The National Interest hosted a symposium to discuss this topic. We asked a variety of experts from academia, journalism and the think-tank space about how the newly-elected President Lee will deal with North Korea. Will he acknowledge that it is a separate nation? Will he drop denuclearization from the North Korea foreign policy platform? Read all of the pieces here.
Don’t Expect an Inter-Korean Summit Anytime Soon
by Minseon Ku
Despite his liberal roots, President Lee Jae-myung is unlikely to pursue bold inter-Korean cooperation soon. Instead, he will focus on South Korea’s domestic recovery and pursue practical, low-key engagement with Pyongyang. Read it here.
South Korea Will Not Choose Between the US and China
by Park Kyuri & David C. Kang
South Korea under President Lee Jae-myung is returning to pragmatic diplomacy, maintaining its US alliance while rejecting confrontation with China, reflecting public sentiment and prioritizing peace, trade, and regional stability. Read it here.
Lee Jae-myung’s Realist Approach to North Korea
by Eun Hee Woo & Ulv Hanssen
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung seeks pragmatic peace with North Korea, motivated not by reunification ideals but by economic benefits, investor confidence, and market stability, signaling a shift in policy toward realism. Read it here.
Will South Korea Distance Itself from the US Under President Lee?
by Jagannath Panda
President Lee Jae-myung’s foreign policy signals a pragmatic shift: balancing US ties, managing China, engaging India, and redefining South Korea’s role as a strategic middle power in the Indo-Pacific. Read it here.
Can South Korea Achieve Peace in a Chaotic World?
by Ji-Yeon Yuh
Lee Jae-myung faces an emboldened, nuclear North Korea and an uncooperative US; to succeed, Seoul must shift from denuclearization demands toward arms control and independent, multilateral diplomacy. Read it here.
