South Korea's Lee ditches hard-line path on Kim, North Korea

In a clear departure from his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has adopted a softer stance on North Korea during his first seven months in office, offering carrots rather than sticks to the regime in Pyongyang. The change became obvious in recent weeks as Seoul pushed multiple initiatives to reopen communication channels and build trust with North Korea.

"Both Yoon and Lee want the same thing because there has been a stalemate in inter-Korean ties since the North's last nuclear test, in September 2017," said Choo Jae-woo, a professor of foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.

The Korean Peninsula has been divided since 1948. The subsequent decades have seen periods of tension and relative rapprochement between Seoul and Pyongyang, but the bilateral ties have "broken down" in recent years, Choo said. The conflict over the North's nuclear arsenal is still the main stumbling block between the countries. Ex-President Yoon was adamant that denuclearization of the North was a pre-condition to any talks on the future of bilateral ties. Pyongyang would not agree to that stipulation. Lee, however, pushed denuclearization down the list of priorities and now sees it as an "eventual goal,” Choo said.

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