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Ties between North and South Korea had deteriorated under previous president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was more hawkish towards Pyongyang.

Instead he is entering office immediately, to fill the hole left by the impeachment of the former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who last December tried and failed to bring the country under martial law.

Lee enters office at a time when the country is still grappling with deep divisions, which were further triggered after President Yoon Suk Yeol's shock martial law declaration last December.

The brief yet disastrous move set off huge protests and ended former president Yoon Suk Yeol's career: impeached and removed from office, he still faces criminal charges for abusing his power.

In his last presidential run three years ago, when his conservative opponent Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor, appealed to the rule of law, Lee told a story from his childhood: how his family’s poverty pushed him into factory assembly lines while his peers were entering middle school — and how his mother would walk him to work every morning, holding his hand.