The new South Korean president, Lee Jae-myung, calls himself a foreign policy "pragmatist". He says he is driven by South Koreas national interest, rather than ideology, and has spoken of his desire to improve relations with China and North Korea.

Facing a complex set of thorny challenges at home and abroad, Lee Jae-myung says he will deal with them with “pragmatism.”

Amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff pressure, from which seemingly no ally is safe, and China’s increasingly blatant gray-zone provocations, it is time to begin addressing the diplomatic tasks that await the new president's attention.