South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, proven talking Aug. 15, 2025, is because of meet with President Trump throughout his first go to to Washington, D.C.
Ahn Younger-joon/AP
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Ahn Younger-joon/AP
SEOUL, South Korea — En path to his first summit with President Trump, South Korea’s president has pushed again towards U.S. stress to refocus his nation’s 71-year-old army alliance with the U.S. away from deterring North Korea and towards countering China.
“This is not an issue we can easily agree with,” Lee Jae-myung instructed reporters throughout his flight to Washington, D.C., hinting on the challenges ready for him on the White Home.
The Trump administration is looking for modernizing the 71-year-old U.S.-South Korea alliance, solid within the wake of the Korean Struggle.
The U.S. has some 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. For about 20 years, it has known as for “strategic flexibility” to deploy them to satisfy safety challenges away from the Korean Peninsula. And it desires South Korea’s help, together with probably sending troops to different international locations and areas.
South Korea has beforehand despatched troopers to help the U.S. in Vietnam and Iraq. But it surely considers North Korea, not China, its fundamental risk, and doesn’t need to get dragged right into a battle with China over, for instance, Taiwan.
“For the South Koreans, what’s at stake is really alliance credibility, and also defense and deterrence against North Korea,” says Andrew Yeo, an knowledgeable on Asia and U.S.-South Korea relations on the Brookings Establishment in Washington, D.C.
Lee Jae-myung stated over the weekend that he’ll increase a full vary of points associated to North Korea with President Trump, together with the necessity to interact diplomatically. Pyongyang continues to insist that it has no real interest in dialogue with Seoul or Washington.
Ban Kil Joo, an affiliate professor on the Institute of International Affairs and Nationwide Safety, a South Korean government-funded assume tank, says cooperating with the U.S. on strategic flexibility would assist “step up South Korea’s leverage over the United States.”
On the similar time, Ban says, “South Korea needs to avoid designating the name of a specific country [China] as a major threat that these two countries should offset or counter.”
South Korea’s problem of securing a commerce deal
For many years, the default setting for a lot of U.S. allies and companions in Asia has been to rely upon the U.S. army for safety, whereas counting on China for markets and commerce.
Lee Jae-myung desires to say autonomy and independence from the massive powers, however it’s not clear what choices he has aside from strolling a positive line between them.
Lee additionally has the formidable problem of turning a verbal settlement and free framework, agreed upon final month, right into a full-fledged commerce take care of the U.S.
To decrease U.S. tariffs on South Korean exports from 25% to fifteen%, South Korea has pledged to take a position $350 billion within the U.S.
The U.S. says Trump will get to choose the investments, and the U.S. will reap 90% of the earnings. South Korea’s trade minister has stated that declare “does not make sense.”
Many of the $350 billion will likely be within the type of loans and ensures, moderately than direct investments.
The investments could embrace $70 million that South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Co. will spend to develop shipyards in Philadelphia, which President Lee Jae-myung will go to throughout his U.S. journey.
It is one instance of how the U.S. is relying on South Korea to revitalize home manufacturing, and compete with China for dominance in hi-tech sectors, resembling semiconductors.
However commerce pressures are additionally one cause that Lee selected an uncommon itinerary to the U.S.
Of 10 South Korean presidents since 1980, Lee is the one one to make his first abroad bilateral go to to a rustic aside from the U.S. – on this occasion, Japan (two visited Europe first for multilateral conferences earlier than visiting the U.S.).
As not too long ago as 2019, ties between South Korea and Japan had been badly strained over historic and commerce disputes, and the U.S. needed to cajole the 2 to place apart their variations and cooperate on present safety challenges, together with coping with North Korea and China.
Whereas South Korea and Japan competed to curry favor with the U.S. for many years, the Trump administration has now flipped the script, prompting the 2 neighbors to check notes on the best way to take care of the dangers posed by the U.S.
“We’ve experienced occasions when the U.S. had to lead the way for trilateral cooperation because the relationship between South Korea and Japan had soured,” South Korea’s Nationwide Safety Advisor Wi Sung-lac defined.
“This time, South Korea and Japan lead the trilateral ties,” Wi instructed reporters in Tokyo.
NPR’s Se Eun Gong contributed to this report in Seoul.
