South Korea goes way left

South Korea’s presidential election took a hard left turn on Tuesday, with official vote tallies handing victory to comrade Lee Jae-myung, a left-wing opposition leader. He trounced a conservative candidate tied to the disgraced former president Yoon Suk Yeol, whose disastrous martial law stunt in December cratered his political career.

So it seems that voters went with their emotions, not with their brains.

The election could signal a “kind of a return to normal politics” after six months of chaos, especially as U.S. tariffs loom large, stirring economic uncertainty, according to one expert. But don’t hold your breath, Lee’s victory reeks of trouble. He’s poised to cozy up to China and play footsie with North Korea, a move that’s sure to raise eyebrows in Washington and among freedom-loving South Koreans.

Lee campaigned as a unifier, riding the wave of backlash against Yoon’s martial law debacle. But the Korea JoongAng Daily nailed it: he “will need to navigate a deeply polarized electorate and a shifting geopolitical landscape.” 

Good luck with that when your playbook seems to involve appeasing dictators and alienating allies. South Korea’s in for a rocky ride.

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