When South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sat down with US President Donald Trump for their first in-person summit in the Oval Office on Monday, the public exchange quickly turned to North Korea.
Lee publicly implored Trump to reclaim a pivotal role in resurrecting long-stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang, and Trump, vividly recalling his personal rapport with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, offered a favorable nod. The moment underscored a shared recognition of the approach to resolving North Korean issues, including Kim’s unabated nuclear ambitions, through dialogue.
Yet the conversation ventured far beyond nuclear diplomacy.
Trump suddenly cast the historical disputes stemming from Japan’s colonial rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945 as obstacles to closer ties between Seoul and Tokyo, and deflected questions on China with a quip, asking Lee if he’d like to visit China together on one plane to save energy.
More revealing was his vocal criticism of America’s military presence in South Korea, at a critical juncture when Seoul and Washington have been engaged in discussions over what they call “alliance modernization” — a theme notably absent from the portion of the summit open to the press.
Although Trump sidestepped a question on whether he might reduce troop levels, citing the friendly relations between the allies, he once again overstated the size of US Forces Korea and falsely asserted that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had abandoned a cost-sharing arrangement for the USFK stationing.
‘Peacemaker’ and ‘pacemaker’
In his opening remarks, Lee highly praised Trump’s role as “peacemaker.”
“If possible, please bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation remaining in the world. Meet with Kim Jong-un, and even build a ‘Trump World’ in North Korea so that I, too, can play golf there,” Lee told Trump.
“In doing so, I hope you will fulfill the role of a truly world-historical maker of peace, recognized by the entire world. (Kim) is probably already waiting for it.”
Trump responded, “I will say that Kim Jong-un and I had a very good relationship, as you remember, and still do.”
Trump then criticized the approaches of past South Korean leaders toward North Korea, while praising President Lee’s stance. “In the various leaders that I’ve dealt with, they were not approaching it properly, in my opinion, having to do with North Korea. But I think your approach is a much better one.”
Asked about the timing of another meeting with Kim, Trump said, “I’m meeting a lot of people. It’s hard to say, but I’d like to meet him this year.”
Lee also underlined Trump’s role at a time of deteriorating inter-Korean ties.
“With my involvement, it is not easy to improve inter-Korean ties, but in reality, the only person who can resolve this issue is President Trump,” Lee said. “If you, Mr. President, become the peacemaker, then I will assist you as the pacemaker.”
Trump welcomed the idea. “We can make big progress with North Korea — absolutely.”
Trump then reiterated his will for denuclearization on a broader stage.
“I think denuclearization is a very big game,” Trump said. “We can’t let nuclear weapons proliferate. We have to stop nuclear weapons. The power is too great.”
Old wounds with Japan, light jokes on China
When asked about trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan, Trump suddenly raised the issue of “comfort women” — a euphemism for victims forced into sexual slavery during Japan’s colonial rule — as a factor complicating his efforts to bring Seoul and Tokyo closer.
“I thought that was settled a few times over the decades. But there is an overlapping problem with that,” Trump said. “It was hard getting Japan and Korea together because of what took place a long time ago. But Japan wants to do it, I can say. Korea is a little bit more tenuous.”
On China, Trump shifted to humor rather than policy.
“Maybe we’ll go together. Do you want to go together? We can share a plane. We’ll save energy. We’ll save the ozone layer,” Trump answered when asked about his specific plans to travel to China.
Lee answered with a favorable nod, “I hope we can go together.”
Trump continued, "If you want to go, I’m going to get special permission. I’m sure you can go, but we’re going to have a great relationship with China. It’s happening."
False claims cloud USFK debate
When it came to the US military presence, Trump openly criticized it, though he declined to give a direct answer when asked whether he was considering reducing the number of US forces, saying only, “We've been friends and we're friends."
Trump reiterated his assertion that South Korea should shoulder more of the costs, reflecting his consistent view of alliances as transactions, while again inflating troop levels to “over 40,000” soldiers instead of the actual 28,500.
Trump falsely claimed that Biden terminated the defense-cost-sharing agreement for stationing US Forces Korea, formally known as the Special Measures Agreement.
“We were getting paid billions of dollars, but then Biden ended that for whatever reason. It’s unbelievable that he did. But we have a very good relationship militarily.”
Trump notably expressed interest in owning land currently used by US forces in South Korea — property that Seoul has granted under the Status of Forces Agreement with the expectation of eventual return.
“We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea,” Trump said. “But 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.”
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
