How South Korea’s next president can cheer up his unhappy country

LAST year millions of South Koreans took to the streets to secure the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, their conservative president. She is now behind bars; her trial, on charges of corruption and abuse of power, began this week. On May 9th the country will pick a new president in a snap election. The winner looks almost certain to be Moon Jae-in, the liberal whom Ms Park defeated at the last election in 2012.The scandal tested South Korea’s young, raucous democracy—and it passed. No one was killed. The often cautious press vigorously pursued the allegations that Ms Park had divulged state secrets to a confidante and colluded with her in extorting large sums from private firms. Legislators, including many from Ms Park’s own party, voted convincingly to impeach her. The constitutional court unanimously upheld their decision.