The leader of the first opposition party in Korea, now born in 1985. There are many reasons to pay attention to the age of the new People's Power Representative Lee Jun-seok, but today I want to talk about some points related to North Korea.
Kim Jong-un is known to have been born on January 8, 1984. He is only one year older than CEO Lee Jun-seok. Both of them became heads of specific units early on. It wouldn't be right to explain it with age alone, but anyway, I'm 36 and 37 years old. They do fall under the so-called MZ generation standards.
It seems that North Korea also has no choice but to pay attention to the changes in South Korean politics by Lee Jun-seok. Basically, the influence of the conservative party on our foreign and security policy cannot be ignored, and the conservative party led by the leader in his 30s is a very unfamiliar experience for the Kim Jong-un regime.
When we talk about inter-Korean relations, we often talk about different 'times' due to differences in systems, and it is interesting to note that Chairman Lee Jun-seok and General Secretary Kim Jong-un are of similar age. General Secretary Kim Jong-un is still the supreme leader at the age of 37, but he will continue to remain there as long as there are no health problems. On the other hand, many South Korean politicians are fathers or more. Although the most direct factor is the change of government through elections, the time in North Korea is much longer in terms of the age of politicians. It is impossible to guarantee how long Lee Jun-seok will be active as a politician. However, from the North's point of view, it seems that at least South Korean politicians can recognize it as a 'face to see for a long time'.
I understand that President Lee Jun-seok has not expressed a specific position on North Korea since taking office. When I think of President Lee, keywords such as 'gender issue', 'regime change', and 'election management' come to mind first rather than foreign and security issues. But now that I am the leader of the first opposition party, I will have the opportunity to make a number of comments on the Korea-US alliance, Korea-Japan relations, and inter-Korean relations.
Whatever the statement, North Korea is expected to hold it in check. This is because South Korea's conservative politicians have been slandered through propaganda media in the past. Recently, he criticized former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol by borrowing the expression 'Byeoljji (moment of a shooting star)', but it is estimated that he is paying close attention to the power of the people and the future actions of former President Yoon Seok-yeol.
Looking at the past cases, neither former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Assemblyman Hong Jun-pyo, People's Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo nor former President Yun Seok-yeol, who were called influential conservative politicians, escaped the 'taunts' of the North Korean propaganda media. Of course, the level of critics is lowered in that they appear in the propaganda media. There is no need to interpret it as the 'authoritative' position of the North Korean authorities. Just as the government does not respond to every slander in the propaganda media, I think it is not necessary for the opposition parties to respond individually.
While the point is how different the diplomatic and security issues raised by 'Lee Jun-seok' will be different from those shown by the people's power, as it is intertwined with the presidential election, it is a 'check-in' for North Korea. It is expected that we will start from the beginning and keep an eye on future developments.