South Korea ready to get tough

Victorious: Yoon gesturing to his supporters outside the People Power Party headquarters in Seoul. — AFP

Seoul: Threatening a pre-emptive strike, swiftly responding to missile tests, and telling “rude boy” leader Kim Jong-un to behave: South Korea’s next president looks set to get tough on the nuclear-armed North, analysts say.

For the last five years Seoul has pursued a policy of engagement with Pyongyang, brokering high-level summits between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump while reducing joint US military drills the North sees as provocative.