South Korea’s liberal opposition parties scored a decisive victory in the recent National Assembly elections, routing the ruling conservative party of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The election earlier this month was seen as a referendum on Yoon’s first two years in office and the results risk turning him into a lame duck for the rest of his single, five-year term. The opposition will be emboldened to impede Yoon’s domestic policies and reform plans.

However, South Korea’s president likely will continue foreign and security policies that closely align with U.S. strategic interests.

Yoon was elected in May 2022 after espousing principled security policies to strengthen South Korea’s alliance with the United States, overcome historic animosities with Japan to focus on current regional challenges, and push back against the rising threats from China and North Korea. He pledged to increase defense spending and improve South Korea’s military.

Yoon delivered on his promises, enabling a resurgence in allied deterrence and defense capabilities against North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile arsenals. In 2022, the U.S. and South Korea resumed large-scale military exercises and Washington restarted rotational deployments of strategic assets (bombers, submarines, and aircraft........

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