So, it’s President Moon. Last week’s presidential by-election in South Korea picked President Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party as the person to lead the country for the next five years. The 8-month political scandal and the lack of national leadership have left the country in tatters. And now everything has been dumped on his lap.

So, over the next several weeks he should make decisions for a plethora of issues, or at least confirm where his government stands on them -- not as a matter of campaign platforms but now as standing national policies. Whatever the decisions are and wherever the policies stand, the first thing and the most important thing he should do as president is to restore national “unity.”

What has surprised us Koreans during the presidential election is the realization of how deeply divided the country is. Korea is not just divided North and South, but even inside the South we can see a jagged fissure -- a fissure which is widening by the year. Hearing what the two opposing groups say during the election campaign, one would assume that they speak two different languages. The rift runs so deep that any sudden impact from inside or outside could easily disrupt our fragile society.

So, the most important and critical task for President Moon is to heal the rift and mend the fissure, and make people feel like they are living in the same country. And the first step to do so is to re-build the national consensus. We do not necessarily have to agree upon all things, but there has got to be a consensus as to where the country is heading. That consensus for the general direction of the country is critical in making key national decisions to overcome the outstanding challenges one by one.

Of course, re-building the national consensus will be by no means easy. In last week’s election, President Moon managed to obtain only 41 percent of the total votes, which means he will have to face 59 percent of voters who supported other candidates. Most likely, the defeated conservatives will find every excuse to inflame confrontation. Nonetheless, he should reach across the aisle to get the opponents on board, as much as possible, in his drive to bring the country together again.

During the campaign, he mentioned and pledged some policies that catered to the desire of his own support groups and that turned out to be quite divisive throughout the election. Now, it is interesting to see how he, as president, will have to adjust (or stand behind) the policies he ran with during the campaign. For now, we will have to see what is campaign rhetoric and what is real, standing policy decisions. Whatever decision he makes, his number one priority should be to bring the nation together, and restore the sense of togetherness among us.

The first litmus test for his effort to heal the divided nation is the imminent Cabinet composition. He has already pledged that he will find the best talents of the country regardless of their political affiliation. The upcoming summit meeting with the United States next month will help us fathom how his “pragmatist” policy stance will shape up. Remember it was former President Roh Moo-hyun’s liberal administration, where President Moon played a critical role, that initiated some key conservative agenda such as Korea-US FTA despite strong opposition from its own support groups.

Due to instant inauguration, there is no time for celebration for him. He has already started his work in the office, effective the next morning of the presidential election. Koreans have been anxiously waiting for a new president who will finally bring the 8-month roller coaster ride to an end. Whether this is indeed the light at the end of the tunnel depends on how he reaches out and persuades those at the other side of the political aisle. Healing the rift, bringing the country together and restoring national unity -- is now the number one priority for President Moon.


By Lee Jae-min

Lee Jae-min is a professor of law at Seoul National University. He can be reached at jaemin@snu.ac.kr. -- Ed.