‘South Korea has regained its footing,’ says President Lee Jae-myung, 10 months after martial law crisis
Seoul is continuing to tackle outstanding issues with major powers, including trade and technology
[SEOUL] South Korea has moved past last December’s martial law debacle, said its President Lee Jae-myung, and it is ready to reprise its role as a key player in the global community as it gears up to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit meetings next week.
“International confidence in Korea has been fully restored,” he declared in an interview with The Straits Times, pointing to a surge in foreign investments and ambitious foreign policy initiatives as evidence.
But in a nod to challenges at hand, he acknowledged that South Korea is still trying to navigate its fraught relationships with its two largest trading partners.
A trade deal with Washington to ease tariff pressure on South Korean companies, for instance, has yet to be finalised, with both governments in a deadlock over details of Seoul’s pledge of US$350 billion in investments in the US.
Lee said that while he is keen to reach a compromise in a much-anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump in Seoul next week, he is cautious about “working towards any artificial deadline”.
“We are carefully reviewing its potential impact on South Korea’s financial markets, and exploring ways to maximise mutual benefit,” he said.
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Meanwhile, economic competition with China has become “more prominent”, he added, pointing to the Asian behemoth’s manufacturing competitiveness and advanced technologies. This is even as a series of anti-Chinese protests in South Korea cast a shadow over people-to-people ties, potentially derailing Seoul’s efforts to reset ties with Beijing.
“It is important to expand new areas of cooperation with China while fiercely competing with it,” said Lee.
In response to written questions, Lee said South Korea stands ready to host the 21-member economic forum, which he hopes will promote regional solidarity and seek innovative solutions to shared challenges.
He noted that economic confidence has since returned to South Korea following the attempted self-coup. “With the Kospi repeatedly reaching record highs and investor trust fully restored, we are improving transparency, fairness and corporate governance to make Korea an even more attractive investment destination.”
Kospi, short for Korea Composite Stock Price Index, is South Korea’s benchmark stock market index.
Buoyed by gains in the chipmaking and automobile sectors despite ongoing global trade tensions, the South Korean stock market went on an unprecedented bull run in the past week, notching record highs in a six-day streak. It breached the 3,900 mark for the first time on Oct 23 before closing at 3,845.56.
With its gains of nearly 60 per cent in 2025, the Kospi is set to be the world’s top-performing stock market index of the year.
Lee said: “Diplomatically, Korea has regained its footing. Following our participation in the G-7 Summit and the UN General Assembly, successfully hosting the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting will demonstrate to the world that Korea is once again a central player on the global stage.”
At the upcoming Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 26, he expects regional partners “will once again see that Korea remains a reliable and forward-looking partner, even amid global uncertainty”.
The Apec summit meetings, to be held on Oct 31 and Nov 1 in the ancient capital of Gyeongju, located about four hours by car from Seoul, come 10 months after former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s late-night martial law declaration in December 2024 plunged the country into a months-long political crisis.
Lee himself has barely warmed the presidential seat, having been voted in as the new leader in June 2025 in a snap election.
The leadership vacuum in the months preceding his election meant that Lee, 61, had to hit the ground running. He navigated gruelling tariff negotiations with the US, while seeking to assure diplomatic partners that the country’s democratic system remains intact.
Tariff turbulence
The Apec leaders’ week is also set to be the backdrop of a much-anticipated summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid continued volatility in the US-China tariff war.
A tariff truce, which expires on Nov 10, is currently in place. Both sides are reportedly embarking on another round of economic consultations from Oct 24, on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Malaysia.
The White House has confirmed on Oct 22 that the two leaders will meet on Oct 30.
Lee, who is hoping to meet Trump for a summit in Gyeongju as a follow-up to their successful first meeting in Washington on Aug 25, said he could not “disclose specific details”.
He would only say that Seoul and Washington’s officials are “currently holding close discussions regarding President Trump’s visit to South Korea and a potential bilateral summit”.
The two governments have yet to agree on the modalities of the US$350 billion investment package pledged by Seoul, which was key in convincing Washington to lower initial reciprocal tariff rates from 25 per cent to 15 per cent in July.
Trump has said he expects the investment to be cash upfront, which Seoul says will strain its reserves and push it to the brink of a financial crisis.
Lee is also expected to meet Xi on the sidelines of the Apec meetings.
Balancing between the US and China
Asked to comment on Seoul’s ties with Washington and Beijing, Lee said it is not simply a case of maintaining a balance between two great powers.
“I believe we need to be firmly grounded in our national interests and respond with a multifaceted understanding of the factors of competition, cooperation and challenges.”
There has been concern over the rising anti-Chinese sentiment among South Koreans, which was amplified in the aftermath of the martial law declaration, with supporters of former president Yoon fuelling conspiracy theories of Chinese interference in electoral results.
Anti-Chinese protesters have been staging weekly demonstrations in Seoul’s city centre and in Myeongdong, a tourist hub where the Chinese Embassy is located.
Lee has urged calm, noting the spread of the anti-China sentiment and protests would only serve to deepen anti-Korean sentiment in China as well, thereby “magnifying a vicious circle of mistrust between neighbours”.
Elaborating on economic ties with the US, he said recent economic cooperation is expanding into high-tech fields, which has helped to strengthen the competitiveness of both countries’ industries.
“However, we must ensure that industrial cooperation between Korea and the US does not lead to a hollowing-out of our domestic industries.”
He added that the Korean peninsula should not become the front line of great-power confrontation.
By further developing “the South Korea-US alliance into a future-oriented comprehensive strategic partnership, while also maintaining and advancing stable relations with China”, Lee envisions Seoul acting as a bridge “that eases tensions and promotes co-prosperity in north-east Asia”.
Singapore, South Korea can become “trusted partners”
As the world faces what he calls “new headwinds” – including the weakening of the rules-based international order, rising protectionism, the weaponisation of resources and instability in supply chains – President Lee sees Singapore as a partner to explore new pathways with.
“Paradoxically, this moment of transition opens new space for middle powers to play a more active role,” he said.
Lee said both countries’ success rests on a firm belief in the rules-based international order, free trade and relentless innovation.
To face these challenges together, the president said that both South Korea and Singapore need to elevate cooperation to “a more strategic, future-oriented level”.
South Korea and Singapore mark their 50th anniversary of bilateral relations in 2025, and in an introductory phone call on June 30, both Lee and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.
The elevation in ties will see closer bilateral collaboration across multiple sectors such as high-level dialogue on foreign affairs and security, cooperation in defence and defence industries, and joint responses to non-traditional security threats.
Lee believes South Korea’s lead in advanced technology and Singapore being a pioneer in AI and digital innovation allow the two countries to become “trusted partners in frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum science and clean energy” with advancing cooperation in future growth sectors like energy transition.
“I believe that, as two nations that embody the ‘Miracle of East Asia’, Korea and Singapore can navigate the shifting global order wisely and emerge as true leaders of the 21st century,” he said. THE STRAITS TIMES
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