The presidential nominee of a splinter conservative party has vowed to meet with US President Donald Trump before any other foreign leader if elected in the upcoming poll.
Yoo Seong-min, a four-term lawmaker and presidential nominee of the Bareun Party, made the remark in response to a question about which country he plans to visit first if he wins the election on May 9.
Yoo Seong-min speaks in an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the National Assembly in Seoul on March 29, 2017. (Yonhap)
"(I) will have to hold talks with China and North Korea at some point, but dialogue between South Korea and the US is the most important," the 59-year-old said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency Wednesday, a day after winning the nomination. "That's because the basics of our foreign policy and national security are to meet with US President Donald Trump first and to discuss with him whether the current South Korea-US alliance will hold fast and what our policies on China and North Korea are going forward."
Yoo has cast himself as the leader of a new conservative force in the wake of a massive corruption scandal that led to the ouster of President Park Geun-hye early this month. His party, whose name means "righteous" in Korean, broke away from what is now Park's conservative Liberty Korea Party following her impeachment by parliament in December.
Yoo is currently the only official presidential nominee. The other three major parties are set to choose their standard-bearers by the middle of next week.
On meeting Trump, Yoo added with a laugh, "It's not important who comes and who goes. Why can't President Trump come (to Korea) first?"
During the 2012 presidential election, the former economist was one of the key architects of Park's "economic democratization" policies, which called for tighter control of unfair practices of large businesses and expanded spending on welfare for low-income citizens.
But he was critical of her campaign pledge to achieve the welfare expansion without increasing taxes.
If elected, Yoo said he will push for a "medium burden, medium welfare" policy that provides welfare selectively through an increase in taxes.
He stressed, however, that any tax hike must be based on principle and consensus.
"If I become president, I will do my best at the start of my term to produce a national consensus," he said. "This is about deciding the future direction of the entire country. Communication and persuasion are important."
Yoo has garnered approval ratings of 2 to 3 percent in recent presidential polls. The presidential nominee of a splinter conservative party has vowed to meet with US President Donald Trump before any other foreign leader if elected in the upcoming poll. (Yonhap)