South Korea General Elections - President Moon Jae-in's Victory

Why in news?

President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party (DP) of Korea won a big mandate in South Korea’s 21st General Election.

Why is this victory notable?

The results marked a substantial change in public sentiments from the last year.
South Korea witnessed 3 years of slow economic growth.
In 2019, protests broke out amid a slowing economy and corruption allegations.
President Moon Jae-in’s diplomatic efforts with North Korea also made no big changes.
Given these, Moon’s popularity had fallen in early 2020.
He was expected to follow the same trend as previous Korean presidents, lapsing into lame duck status in the final 2 years of presidency.
But the coronavirus changed everything.
South Korea under Moon's Presidentship, took up aggressive test and trace measures, widespread monitoring, and strict quarantine measures.
It flattened the curve faster than almost any other country.
As a result, Moon’s popularity rose above 50% before the election.
Despite the health-care crisis, he decided to go ahead with the poll, with stringent precautionary measures in place.
Now, the Democrats have won more seats than even the most audacious analysts predicted.
President Moon Jae-in is into the third year of his five-year presidency.
With more parliamentary seats, he can now follow his reform agenda and North Korean rapprochement without legislative bottlenecks.

What are the tasks before Moon now?

The ruling party’s win is a chance for President Moon to expedite peace efforts.
The desire for normalcy with North Korea is evident among other things.
There is a growing impatience to end the disruption of business activity across the border.
Since the thaw in ties between the neighbours began in 2018, Mr. Moon and North's leader Kim Jong-un have also met on the Demilitarised Zone.
A foremost priority for Moon would be to consider the implications of his initiatives towards North, given South's military alliance with the U.S.

What are the challenges in this regard?

Seoul (South) and Washington have suspended their annual military exercises in South Korea.
But besides this, they have been unable to agree on more substantial measures to ease tensions with the North.
There is the more recent international demand for the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearisation.
So the formal declaration of an end to the Korean war of the 1950s, where the U.S. was involved, would be dependent on the above demand.
But progress on the North’s nuclear stand-off has been stalled ever since the Trump-Kim Hanoi summit, in February 2019, broke down.
Their meeting, in Singapore in June 2018, resulted in no more than vague promises to end the long deadlock.
Pyongyang (North) insists on ending the crippling economic sanctions as a precondition for any meaningful reduction of nuclear testing in future.
Washington has, on the other hand, been demanding access to the North’s nuclear sites in exchange for a relaxation of sanctions.

What are the future prospects?

Mr. Trump, himself facing re-election in November 2020 and focused on combating the pandemic, is unlikely to renew attention to this dispute.
However, paradoxically, there is a collective desire among nations to confront the unfolding health emergency.
This could open avenues of cooperation, even defying the ordinary operation of realpolitik.
This offers some hope, and Mr. Moon must make the most of the situation.

Source: The Hindu