Lee pushes for Trump-Kim meeting this year
At the White House summit, Trump said he was open to the idea. The meeting could take place in conjunction with the APEC summit in Gyeongju at the end of October, which Trump is expected to attend. So far, North Korea has made it a precondition that the US not continue to demand denuclearisation. Meanwhile, Lee has pledged to increase South Korea’s military spending and invest US$ 150 billion in shipbuilding in the US.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – Washington and especially Seoul continue to send signals to Pyongyang to resume the intra-Korean dialogue. A new opportunity presented itself yesterday during the White House meeting between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump.
Speaking in front of journalists, the US leader also said that he hopes a meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could take place by the end of the year.
In the first meeting with Trump, Lee tried to rouse his host’s interest in such an eventuality.
"I hope you will meet Kim Jong-un and even build a 'Trump World' in North Korea so that I can play golf there, and that you will firmly play the role of a historic peacemaker," Lee told Trump at the opening of their meeting. “The only person who can truly resolve this issue is President Trump.”
This morning the US president was less than friendly vis-à-vis his guest when, on his social media platform Truth Social, he mentioned a “purge or revolution” underway in South Korea and that “We can’t have that and do business there.”
Trump later explained his post saying that it was linked to an intelligence briefing in which he was informed about raids “on churches in South Korea and on a U.S. military base”. He later put it down to “a misunderstanding”.
Since it took office, the new South Korean government is focusing on jump-starting a dialogue with North Korea.
One date already on the agenda is 31 October, when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) summit is set to take place in Gyeongju, which the US president could attend.
That event could provide an ideal opportunity for a new meeting between Trump and Kim, six years after their last summit in 2019 in Panmunjom, just north of the demarcation line at the 38th parallel.
However, many doubts remain about Pyongyang's willingness to take part in such a meeting. Kim Yo-jong, Kim's influential sister, recently dismissed the possibility of talks with the United States if the latter continues to demand denuclearisation.
“From Kim Jong-un's perspective, a new summit (with Trump) should come with expectations for tangible results, and without such results, it will be difficult for him to return to the dialogue table,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
In the meantime, complying with Trump's repeated requests, Lee pledged to boost South Korea’s defence spending.
“South Korea will take on a more leading role in maintaining security on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington held immediately after the summit at the White House.
The US is pushing for South Korea to increase defence spending and shoulder a greater share of the cost of maintaining 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
Trump would also other like to see US allies in Asia to increase military spending to 5 per cent of GDP like NATO member states did recently.
Lee did not quantify the increase. According to government data, South Korea's defence budget for this year amounts to approximately 61.2 trillion won (US$ 44.2 billion), or 2.32 per cent of GDP.
The other result for Trump that the Washington summit sealed was the shipbuilding agreement, one of the key points that allowed South Korea to keep US tariffs at 15 per cent.
South Korea's major shipbuilders have announced plans to invest US$ 150 billion in the United States. Washington, for its part, will purchase ships that South Korean companies will build in the US employing US workers.
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