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Press Release

Moon and the Sunshine Policy
Win South Korean Election

May 2017


Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Photographer name) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Moon Jae-in.

May 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—As anticipated in the polls, Moon Jae-in has won the South Korean presidential election handily. Exit polls have him winning about 40%, with the second- and third-place candidates, another liberal and the conservative candidate, each winning just over 20%.

Moon will be sworn in as president on Wednesday morning.

As chief of staff to former President Roh Moo-hyun, who followed President Kim Daejung and continued the Sunshine Policy toward the North (a development and cooperation approach to move towards reunification), Moon will certainly revive that policy. He has opposed the U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to South Korea, but is mainly focused now on the manner in which it was deployed—without consulting the National Assembly, and not waiting for the new government to weigh in.

As reported earlier, Moon granted an interview to the Washington Post in which he shocked the reporter by praising Trump, and indicating that he thought they could work together on solving the issues with the North.