South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed bid to impose martial law on his country could have severe consequences for Seoul’s approach to China. With Yoon jettisoning himself onto rockier political terrain than he was even on before, his willingness to take a stand on issues crossing Beijing is not likely to continue under a government run by Korea’s opposition.

Yoon was willing to issue statements supporting Taiwan, as he did when New Zealand’s prime minister visited Korea in September; the two leaders released a statement that “stressed the importance of preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung appears unlikely to continue that approach, if he ends up succeeding Yoon. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper took aim at Lee, the country’s primary opposition leader, for comments he made during a campaign rally ahead of parliamentary elections this year. Among other things, he asked, “Why keep pestering China? . . . Whatever happens in the Taiwan Strait, whatever happens with China and Taiwan’s domestic issues, what does it matter to us?”

Human-rights advocate Luke de Pulford pointed to the Chosun Ilbo editorial today and called Lee’s potential ascent an “extremely dangerous situation,” claiming that some members of Lee’s Democratic Party take Beijing’s side on Taiwan.

The dust has yet to settle in Seoul, but the upshot so far is that Washington, Tokyo, and Taipei could lose a reliable partner who was steering the ship of South Korea’s government in a promising direction on Chinese aggression.