Ekeomah Atuonwu
Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s new president, has been sworn in, promising an “audacious” plan to North Korea as well as strengthening the South’s democracy and freedoms.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, won the election by the slimmest of margins in March, promising to “sternly deal” with Kim Jong Un’s regime while leaving the door open to dialogue.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, were among those in attendance.
Yoon also mentioned bolstering South Korea’s democracy and economy.
“It is our generation’s calling to build a nation that espouses liberal democracy and ensures a thriving market economy, a nation that fulfills its responsibility as a trusted member of the international community, and a nation that truly belongs to the people,” he said.
Yoon is taking office with some of the lowest approval ratings – about 41 percent, according to a recent Gallup poll – of any democratically elected South Korean president.
