No time to waste for the South Korean president. Just hours after being elected as the new president, Lee Jae Myung has been sworn in. 

Mr Lee had won 49.42 per cent of the nearly 35 million votes cast while conservative rival Kim Moon-soo had taken 41.15 per cent in the polls

But now he faces a daunting task - to unite a country where division and discontentment continue to rack up.

Not only that, he now faces the challenge to revive the economy, reinforce the Seoul-Washington alliance, and attempt to build ties with neighbouring North Korea and China.

So what’s his first order of business now? 

On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks to Benjamin A. Engel, Assistant Professor, Department of Korean Studies, Dankook University, to find out more.