Yoon Suk-yeol has been sworn in as South Korea’s new president in a ceremony overshadowed by a slew of weapons tests by its nuclear-armed neighbour.

Suk-yeol, a conservative, takes office at a time of increasing tension on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea conducting a record fifteen weapons tests since January, two of them last week.

The former prosecutor won the election in March by the slimmest of margins, promising to sternly deal with the threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s regime, while leaving open the door to dialogue.

Predecessor Moon Jae-in pursued a policy of engagement with the North holding a summit with Kim Jong Un in twenty, eighteen and brokering two summits between Kim and then US President Donald Trump before relations broke down in twenty, nine