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Is a Changing of the Guard in South Korea the Key to Peace?
The election of President Moon Jae-in’s political rival could mean a faster resolution with North Korea and stronger free trade relationships.
Liberty Korea Party Elects New Leader
When Ex-Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn was elected Liberty Korea Party chief in February 2019, conservatives in South Korea celebrated. The man who steered the party through a crisis of leadership in 2017 was returning again to the political fray.
For South Korean conservatives, the move came not a moment too soon.
Hwang, a 30-year prosecutor has a well-earned reputation for being tough on North Korean linked groups using a combination of law enforcement, national security laws and special legislation. Given his experience, not as a politician but in national security, he might be the right man for the main job currently facing South Korean leadership.
Peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Given his background, perhaps no one in South Korea understands the workings of Pyongyang, at least to the extent that they can be understood, better than Hwang Kyo-ahn.
Conservatives hope he will help reshape the peace talks with North Korea, and countermine what many South Korean conservatives in the Liberty…