President Lee Jae-myung held his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 82 days after taking office. The meeting began 32 minutes late due to Trump’s executive order signing ceremony.
In his opening remarks, Trump said, “South Korea is a big buyer of military equipment,” and noted that Seoul is considering setting up shipyards in the U.S. to help restart domestic shipbuilding.
Lee asked Trump “to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world.” He added, “I hope you will meet Kim Jong-un, and even build a ‘Trump World’ in North Korea so I can play golf there,” calling on Trump to play the role as a “historic peacemaker.” Trump said, “We can make big progress with North Korea.”
In his opening remarks, Trump said, “South Korea is a big buyer of military equipment,” and noted that Seoul is considering setting up shipyards in the U.S. to help restart domestic shipbuilding.
Lee asked Trump “to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world.” He added, “I hope you will meet Kim Jong-un, and even build a ‘Trump World’ in North Korea so I can play golf there,” calling on Trump to play the role as a “historic peacemaker.” Trump said, “We can make big progress with North Korea.”
The bilateral meeting was seen as a chance to build a new framework for security, trade, and industrial cooperation in the second Trump administration. Analysts said the South Korea-U.S. alliance is now at a turning point in both security and economic matters. The U.S. has long described the alliance as the “linchpin” of its Indo-Pacific strategy, while Lee stressed that “the foundation of our diplomacy is the Korea-U.S. alliance.” However, officials said the two sides faced difficulties in narrowing differences on certain issues.
On his flight to Washington on Aug. 24, Lee told reporters that while the U.S. had requested greater “flexibility” regarding American troop deployments in South Korea, “it is not something we can easily agree to.” He also said U.S. officials had pushed for additional market openings in agriculture and livestock beyond last month’s agreement, but noted, “It is not something we can simply accept.”
Just three hours before the summit, Trump wrote on social media, “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a purge or a revolution.” At an executive order signing ceremony shortly before the meeting, he said he had heard about recent “very vicious raids on churches by the new government in South Korea,” adding that “they even went into our military base and got information.” He added he would be finding out as the summit with Lee approached.
The presidential office had planned for Lee to meet with senior U.S. officials that afternoon, but the meeting fell through.
[Park Sang-ki (Washington)]
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