By Choe Sang-HunYoon Suk Yeol has aligned his country more closely with the United States, but there are limits to how far he can go without angering China or provoking North Korea.
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea. Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times
Four months into his new administration, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has found himself in trouble.
His national approval rating has plummeted, his governing People Power Party does not control Parliament and five of his cabinet-level appointees have been forced to step down amid accusations of nepotism, sexual harassment and other ethical lapses.
Yet despite myriad domestic challenges, Mr. Yoon is hoping to boost his popularity at home and raise his profile on the world stage by pursuing a new foreign policy agenda, one that would deepen his country’s alliance with Washington in everything from missile defense to global supply chains while seeking to avoid antagonizing China or provoking North Korea into war.
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, the South Korean president said it had become necessary — even inevitable — for Seoul to expand its security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo as North Korea intensified its nuclear threat.
Executing on such a policy will be a painstaking balancing act for Mr. Yoon. All of his recent predecessors have tried and failed to roll back the North’s nuclear program. And none have faced the geopolitical headwinds posed by the escalating rivalry between the United States, South Korea’s main security ally, and China, its biggest trading partner and a friend to North Korea.
