Moon Jae-in Gets Elected as the 19th President of Korea
Moon Jae-in Gets Elected as the 19th President of Korea
  • Reporter Gwak Jun-ho
  • 승인 2017.05.24 20:41
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South Korean liberal politician Moon Jae-in has won the country’s presidential election on May 9, ending a decade of conservative rule and potentially reshaping the country’s policy toward North Korea. By midnight, with 34 percent of the vote counted, Moon had 39 percent of votes, beating the conservative candidate, Hong Jun-pyo, who had 27 percent.
Moon’s win was fueled by a surge in liberal sympathy after the former conservative president, Park Geun-hye. Park is now in a jail cell as she awaits trial on accusations she took about 52 million USD in bribes from major companies, including Samsung. National Election Commission said more than 33.8 million people voted in the election, a turnout of 77 percent, the highest in two decades.
On the first day of his inauguration, he nominated the candidates for Prime Minister, President of National Intelligence South Korea, and Chief Secretary. Also, he announced the establishment of association of workers as the prior goal. With his official call to President Donald Trump, he emphasized ‘the alliance between South Korea and the USA as the fundamental of diplomatic security.’ At the same time, Moon has vowed to enhance South Korea’s frozen relations with the North, saying he supports direct talks and restarting economic cooperation projects. Under Roh Moo-hyun who was the 16th President of South Korea, President Moon once was an architect of ‘Sunshine Policy’. The policy was at that time condemned by the conservative party as an ineffective policy which failed to induce better behavior from Pyongyang.
On the second day, he nominated the candidates for the President for Civil and Public Affairs. Furthermore, to Cho-Kuk who was nominated as the President for Civil Affairs, President Moon requested for reinvestigations on Choi Sun-sil Gate and Ferry Sewol incident. Without official take over from former President Park due to her impeachment, President Moon had a busy schedule of ten days since his inauguration and had his first holiday on May 20.