August 27, 2025
SEOUL – President Lee Jae Myung’s “pragmatic diplomacy” took center stage after a roller coaster ride on the day of his pivotal summit with US President Donald Trump, covering North Korea, defense and trade, with Lee viewing the summit as a way to open a new phase in the 72-year-old alliance between the two countries.
Hours after the summit at the White House on Monday, Lee said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, that his talks with Trump could pave the way for his pursuit of a “pragmatic alliance” centered on national interests — a mantra the liberal president has repeated since his inauguration in June.
“Building on our security and economic alliance, I am committed to opening a new chapter of pragmatic alliance centered on national interests together with President Trump,” Lee told the audience.
Lee also said he has reached common ground with Trump over ways to “modernize” the “bilateral alliance” in a reciprocal manner.
The high-stakes summit steered clear of trade uncertainties but ended without a joint agreement, which Lee’s aide dismissed as an outdated format in today’s “new normal” diplomacy.
South Korea is “going to make the deal that they agreed to make,” Trump told reporters Monday, hours after his summit with Lee.
Describing Lee as “a very good guy, very good representative for South Korea,” Trump also referred to the US deal with South Korea as “a very big trade deal.”
“It’s the biggest deal they’ve ever made by far,” Trump said.
Trump’s handwritten letter given to Lee during a luncheon at the White House, according to the presidential office, read, “President Lee — You are a great man and leader. Korea has a tremendous future with you at the helm. I am always here for you!”
Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said that the two leaders met in a friendly environment.
Explaining that the talks were geared more toward breaking the ice and sharing pleasantries in the hope of successful further steps on trade, she added, “So there were no further disagreements or suggestions to delve further into a certain issue. The meeting ended amicably with no specific details discussed.”
Also, Lee Kyu-youn, presidential secretary for public relations and communication, described Monday’s summit as “a movie with a dramatic twist” in a briefing in Seoul.
The focus of the summit shifted from Trump’s concerns about “a raid on churches” and on a US military base in South Korea to the prospect of a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
During the summit, Trump expressed his intention to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un again “in an appropriate future,” which could be as early as this year, while describing his relationship with the North Korean leader as “very good.”
“Well, I’m meeting a lot of people. I mean, it’s hard to say that, but I’d like to meet him this year,” Trump told reporters, describing North Korea as “a country of great potential, tremendous potential.”
“I spent a lot of free time with him, talking about things that we probably aren’t supposed to talk about. And, you know, I just, I get along with him really well.”
Trump expressed his anticipation of working with Lee in doing so. Lee also told Trump that he hopes the US president will open a new path to peace on the Korean Peninsula and play the role of “a peacemaker.”
Trump also pledged to work with Lee to resolve problems related to North Korea, which has recently taken a hostile stance against both South Korea and the United States.
“We think we can do something in that regard with respect to North and South, and I think you are much more prone to doing that than other leaders that I’ve been working with from South Korea,” Trump said.
Trump also stressed the need for trilateral ties between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo in order to make progress on North Korea-related issues, discussing the roles of Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“You have something in common, you know, you want to solve the North Korea problem,” Trump said during the summit. “But Japan very much wants to get along with you, and I’m sure they will. I find the people that I deal with to be wonderful people, as they do with you.”
Lee said many of the obstacles to Korea-Japan relations, and in turn, trilateral cooperation, were removed in his earlier summit with Ishiba over the weekend.
On US forces in South Korea, Trump suggested the US be given ownership of land used by its military bases across South Korea, which host some 28,500 troops.
“Maybe one of the things I’d like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land where we have the big fort,” Trump said. “I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base.”
During the summit, Lee told Trump that South Korea would seek to join the US shipbuilding and manufacturing “renaissance.” Trump, in return, said South Korea could be a partner in getting the US shipbuilding industry going again.
“We are thinking about contracting some ships. They build them very well in South Korea. They’re also thinking about coming to our country with some shipyards to start us on the process of building ships again,” Trump said.
“We’re also going to have them make ships here with our people, using our people, and we’re going to go back into the shipbuilding business again.”
To a reporter’s question about whether he plans to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting to be hosted by Korea in October, Trump signaled openness, saying he expects to visit Korea soon for a trade meeting.
Regarding the South Korea-US cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, Wi Sung-lac, Lee’s national security adviser, told reporters that there had been “meaningful progress” in the discussions between the two leaders, adding that further consultations will be held in the future.
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