South Korean President Lee asks Trump to become ‘peacemaker’ on North Korea

WASHINGTON — Despite getting off to a rocky start on August 25, with U.S. President Donald Trump warning over social media he might not be able to do business with South Korea because of an unspecified “purge and revolution,” President Lee Jae Myung quickly wooed over the American leader by asking him to become a peacemaker for the Korean Peninsula.

Putting into motion his vision for a phased initiative to ease tensions with North Korea, Lee asked Trump to play a role in bringing about peace on the Korean Peninsula during their pivotal first summit in the Oval Office in Washington on August 25.

“The only person who can make progress on this issue is you,” Lee told Trump regarding North Korea. “If you become the peacemaker, then I will assist you by becoming the pacemaker.”

Lee asked Trump to “usher in a new era of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” indicating he believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also waiting for a signal from Washington.

Trump said he is interested in a reunion with Kim within the year, saying, “We can do big progress with North Korea.”

Lee and Trump’s first bilateral summit spanned around 240 minutes, running longer than expected according to the presidential office, reflecting the cordial mood and the success of icebreaking talks.

At around 12:30 p.m., Lee arrived at the White House and was greeted by Trump before the two leaders headed into their 54-minute bilateral talks in the Oval Office open to the press. They then headed into a closed-door meeting in the Cabinet Room, where they exchanged gifts, with Trump signing memorabilia for the Korean delegation. They also had a working luncheon.

During their talks, Trump highlighted South Korea’s shipbuilding prowess and said the United States plans to purchase ships from Korea and cooperate in building vessels.

“We’re going to be buying ships from South Korea, but we’re also going to have them make ships here, using our people,” Trump said, as he stressed that the United States wants to get “back into the shipbuilding business again” to regain its World War II capabilities.

“I believe that there is a renaissance taking place not just in the shipbuilding sector but also in the manufacturing industry, and I hope that Korea can be a part of that,” Lee said to Trump.

Seoul and Washington concluded a trade deal on July 30 that set tariffs on Korean exports to the United States at 15 percent, lower than the announced 25 percent. In exchange, Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States, which includes a $150 billion shipbuilding cooperation initiative dubbed the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again,” or MASGA, project.

Through their first in-person meeting, Lee won over Trump through a charm offensive, praising the U.S. president for playing a major part in the detente on the Korean Peninsula during his first term in office through dialogue with Kim in 2018.

However, less prominently featured in the talks was the more concrete discussion about the minute details of their trade deal and how to proceed on security matters and upgrading the bilateral alliance.

Last week, Lee revealed a three-stage road map for a phased denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, comprising a freeze, reduction and dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear and missile weapons program.

Lee said during the summit that the North Korean leader is likely looking forward to a Trump Tower being built in his country, and that he’d also like to play golf there.

Trump recalled the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and his role in de-escalating heightened inter-Korean tensions through his summits with Kim.

“I think he has a country of great potential,” Trump said regarding Kim, which is in line with Lee’s push to gradually restart inter-Korean cooperation.

That opportunity may not be far off, as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, in late October has been named as a possible venue for potential North Korea-U.S. talks. Lee invited Trump to attend the APEC summit and urged him to meet Kim if possible. Trump also indicated he will be visiting South Korea soon for “trade talks.”

According to presidential officials, Seoul through the summit achieved its goals of agreeing on ways to stabilize the economy and trade, modernize the bilateral alliance and explore cooperation in new areas, including nuclear energy and shipbuilding.

However, the day beginning on a tense note, with Seoul officials left perplexed after Trump posted on Truth Social that it “seems like a Purge or Revolution” is underway in South Korea and that he “can’t have that and do business there” just two hours before the summit with Lee.

When asked to elaborate, Trump later in the morning on August 25 told reporters at the Oval Office that he heard about “very vicious raids on churches by the new government in South Korea” and that “they even went into our military base.”

Lee explained to Trump during their summit that there might have been a misunderstanding and that a parliamentary special counsel team is investigating ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched declaration of martial law in December 2024 on a fact-finding mission. Lee clarified that no raids were conducted on U.S. bases in this process.

Nonetheless, Seoul and Washington still have their share of hurdles remaining, with Trump adhering to his usual talking points regarding U.S. troops in Korea and his transactional mindset.

A “modernization” of the alliance amid heightened U.S.-China rivalry and regional tensions could include a scope of issues, including increased defense spending, redefining the role of U.S. troops in Korea through “strategic flexibility” and the early transfer of wartime operational control, or Opcon, to Seoul.

Trump again claimed that “we have over 40,000 troops in South Korea,” during the summit, though the number is around 28,500.

At one point, Trump said he would like to ask South Korea to give the United States “ownership” of the land where it has a massive military base, saying, “I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease.” However, terms such as ownership and leasing of the land for military bases will not be applicable under the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

Lee in turn indicated that Korea will be increasing defense spending in a policy speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington after his summit. This comes as NATO countries pledged to increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 amid pressure from the Trump administration for allies to pay more.

There was also discussion to expand nuclear energy cooperation, which comes as Seoul seeks revisions to a civil nuclear energy agreement.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a press briefing in Washington late in the day on August 25 that the modernization of the alliance “means enabling Korea to play a greater role to better respond to the situation around us,” adding that while the specifics are being discussed, “there is broad agreement between South Korea and the United States” on the matter of strengthening their combined defense posture.

Wi said there had been no discussion of increasing South Korea’s share of the cost of stationing U.S. troops in Korea.

Regarding Lee’s request for Trump to play a role on the North Korea issue, Wi said in a press briefing late Monday that Lee “believes that if the current situation continues, North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities will only increase, and that we must somehow halt them.”

Wi continued, “Someone needs to initiate such an initiative, and a sober look at the current situation suggests that the United States is more likely to do so than North Korea.”

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]