Challenges facing new leader Lee

SOUTH Korean President Lee Jae-myung assumes office with a bulging in-tray, from a deepening economic slump and global trade war to mounting concerns over military ties between nuclear-armed North Korea and Russia.

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And just hours after Lee took office, South Korea’s crucial steel and aluminium exports are set to be hit by steep levies of 50 percent as part of US President Donald Trump’s tariff bonanza.

Chief among Lee’ priorities will be steering South Korea's export-dependent economy - Asia’ fourth largest - through economic turmoil sparked by the tariffs Trump has imposed on US trading partners.

“One of South Korea's major export items is aluminium and steel” Kim Dae-jong, a professor at Sejong University, said, adding the tariffs could worsen “the already sluggish domestic economy’.

South Korea was the fourth largest exporter of steel to the US last year, accounting for 13 percent of its total steel imports.

With the US doubling its tariffs on imported aluminium and steel, Seoul will need to work quickly to shield its economy from the headwinds.

Lee is seen by his supporters as a pragmatic and effective negotiator, with over a decade of experience as a city mayor and provincial governor.