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South Korea

How South Korea's election of Yoon Suk Yeol may affect relationship with US

Yoon is expected to take a harder line against North Korea and seek a closer relationship with the United States

Brie Stimson By Brie Stimson Fox News
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Elected in one of the narrowest presidential races in South Korea’s history, Yoon Suk Yeol, the country’s former top prosecutor, is a political newcomer with the conservative People Power Party who has sometimes been compared to former President Trump. 

Yoon is expected to take a harder line against North Korea and seek a closer relationship with the United States. 

The White House congratulated Yoon on Wednesday following his victory.

"The alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea, our economies and our people is ironclad," a U.S. spokesperson said, according to Reuters. "President Biden looks forward to continue working with the new President-elect to further expand our close cooperation." 

SOUTH KOREA ELECTS YOON SUK YEOL, CONSERVATIVE EX-PROSECUTOR, ITS NEXT PRESIDENT

President Biden said he had spoken with Yoon and he looks "forward to working with him to continue to strengthen the U.S.-ROK Alliance and take on shared global challenges."

Yoon is succeeding President Moon Jae-in, who cannot run for another term. Yoon beat liberal Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung to take the presidency. 

The election was a "testament to the dynamism and resiliency of Korea’s democracy," said Chris Del Corso, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. 

President Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in end a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2021. (Getty Images)

President Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in end a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2021. (Getty Images)

He added that the two countries were preparing to mark the 140th anniversary of bilateral relations.

"The bond between our two countries is stronger than ever," he said.

Observers of foreign affairs weighed in on the possible future of U.S. relations with South Korea.

"Yoon intends to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system and strengthen joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises in proportion to North Korea's missile threats," Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute, a think tank in South Korea, told ABC News, 

South Korea elected Yoon Suk Yeol as its next president this week. 

South Korea elected Yoon Suk Yeol as its next president this week.  (Associated Press)

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Yoon will likely "side more with the United States and take a harder line toward China," Kathy Moon of the Brookings Institution told the Voice of America. "That includes military cooperation with the United States "that would really ruffle China's feathers."