South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump held their inaugural in-person meeting at the White House on Monday, focusing on trade, shipbuilding, security co-operation, and North Korea.
Just hours before their meeting, Trump ambushed Lee on social media. “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA?” wrote Trump. “Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there.” The comment — apparently referencing ongoing investigations into the country’s 2024 martial law declaration — reportedly shocked South Korean officials.
But Lee, through flattery and deft manoeuvring, smoothed over what Trump later called a “misunderstanding.” South Korea’s new president turned on the charm, complimenting Trump’s redecoration of the Oval Office and citing U.S. stock market figures as proof that Trump is “making America great again.”
The strategy seemed to work. Trump said of South Korea: “We love what they do, we love their products, we love their ships, we love a lot of the things they make.”
Pressed are the peacemakers
Trump said Monday that the U.S. would buy South Korean ships and “we’re also going to have them make ships here.” Lee said that there was a “renaissance” in U.S. shipbuilding and manufacturing and hoped that “Korea can be part of that renaissance.” China is the world’s leading shipbuilder, followed by South Korea.
On Tuesday, Lee visited a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean. Hanwha announced this week an investment of US$5 billion to increase the facility’s output. Additionally, after Lee and Trump met, Korean Air announced a US$36.2-billion order for Boeing planes and a US$13.7-billion deal for engines from Ohio-based GE Aerospace.
Washington and Seoul announced the outline of a trade deal in July, which lowered U.S. tariffs on South Korean goods, including autos, from 25 to 15 per cent and included a commitment by South Korea to invest US$350 billion in the U.S. and buy US$100 billion worth of American LNG over the next four years.
On Monday, Lee pressed Trump to play a role in establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula. “The only person that can make progress on this issue is you,” he told Trump. “If you become the peacemaker, then I will assist you by being the pacemaker.” Trump said he’d like to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year.
Lee's symbolic first stop
Before meeting Trump, Lee travelled to Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru. The meeting covered Japan-South Korea-U.S. relations, economic co-operation, North Korea, artificial intelligence, and more. Lee and Ishiba also released a joint statement, the countries’ first in 17 years.
Lee broke with a decades-long precedent by choosing Japan, not the U.S., as his first bilateral trip abroad. (His first overseas diplomatic trip was to Canada in June for the G7 leaders’ summit.) Lee’s decision suggests a softening of his stance on Japan and may signal an unease with Trump’s policies.
South Korea in running to build Canadian subs
On Tuesday, Ottawa announced the final two contenders for a contract to build 12 new submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy: Germany’s TKMS and South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean. Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, has said that a decision would need to come before the end of 2025.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the TKMS shipyard this week and said he’d visit Hanwha Ocean’s facilities in South Korea this fall, presumably during his trip to the APEC leaders’ meeting in Gyeongju.
A readout of a meeting between Carney and Lee at the G7 leaders’ summit noted that, as Canada rearms its armed forces, “the relationship between Canada and Korea has immense potential to prosper further.”
