SOUTH Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, has a new leader, the successor of President Moon Jae-in in May—Yoon Seok-yeol. The East Asian country’s former top prosecutor defeated President Moon’s partymate Lee Jae-myung in a close presidential election held on Wednesday, March 9, 2022.One may ask why Filipinos, specifically Cebuanos, care about the presidential election in the Hallyu-land of dramas and popular music acts like BTS and Blackpink. The answer is this: South Korea is not just a cultural powerhouse with its entertainment imports, it is also among the economic heavyweights, being the fourth-largest economy in the world. Whatever the incoming president’s decisions in dealing with the country’s economy, the effects could be felt by Asian countries and countries that it has ties with.South Korea sits on a portion of a peninsula with a rogue kin: North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is ruled by an autocrat millennial, Kim Jong-un. The actions that would be undertaken by the incoming Yoon administration could make or break the fragile peace in the region.Yoon, a conservative politician, has said his team will seek to restart talks with North Korea, after the 2018 talks with the United States collapsed. If Kim Jong-un’s regime would take concrete actions to denuclearize, Yoon’s administration would pursue good things for North Korea. For the economy, perhaps.The president-elect, however, has also said preventive strikes may be the only way to counter North Korea’s new hypersonic missiles if they appear ready for an imminent attack. North Korea has tested its new weapons and missiles into the open sea, much to the chagrin of not only South Korea but also Japan and the United States.However, before it could do any preventive strike, South Korea must bolster its military defenses. And one of Yoon’s plans is to purchase an additional missile system from the United States despite risks of economic retaliation from its behemoth neighbor across the Yellow Sea—the People’s Republic of China.The political relationship between South Korea and Communist China has been testy as of late. If South Korea makes moves against China’s ally North Korea, the situation in the region could deteriorate. And the breakdown of peace could lead to economic collapse, which would also affect the Philippines.