April 25, 2024
Opinion

South Korean local election results: a ringing endorsement of Moonshine?

The ruling party triumphed, but whether the public supports its more ambitious plans is uncertain

As pundits across the political sphere debate the significance of last week's Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, there is at least one person who is quite certain of the meeting’s benefits: South Korean President Moon Jae-in.  

Thanks in large part to his successful mediation between the U.S. and North Korea, Moon’s Democratic Party scored a landslide win in South Korea’s local elections last week. Ruling party candidates took 14 of the 17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial contests, with the opposition Liberty Korea Party managing victories only in its traditional stronghold of Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province.  

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