A conjecture in a section of the international public spectrum goes that in the upcoming presidential election in South Korea, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung might emerge as the new occupant of the Blue House. Unlike Yoon Suk-Yeol, who has recently been ousted from the office of President in South Korea, Lee is pro-China. He would review Seoul’s ties with Washington (and Tokyo) and the ties between South Korea and the United State might be strained in the process.

One, however, finds there is no cloud over the future of Seoul-Washington ties. Lee, if elected the country’s president in the upcoming poll, is highly unlikely to be insensitive to the time- tested pattern of South Korea-US ties. It is well documented that ever since the two nations concluded the Mutual Defense Treaty in 1953, they have promoted their ties further. In 1987, the US designated South Korea as a major non-NATO ally.........

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