The Irish Times view on the South Korean election: a vote for stability

Lee Jae-myung's emphatic victory in South Korea's presidential election offers Asia's fourth biggest economy the chance of political stability following six months of turmoil since last December's brief imposition of martial law. But the 61 year-old former human rights lawyer inherits formidable challenges, starting with Donald Trump's threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods from one of the United States' closest allies. Lee's 49.42 per cent of the vote put him eight points ahead of conservative Kim Moon-soo but it fell a few points short of the landslide predicted by the polls. And his failure to…