Both leaders focused on trade, shipbuilding cooperation, defense ties, and potential renewed talks with North Korea.
WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed South Korea’s newly elected president, Lee Jae Myung, to the White House on Aug. 25 to discuss trade, investment, and defense collaboration. Both leaders signaled optimism about restarting talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Lee commended Trump’s efforts to promote peace around the world.
“I would like to ask for your role in establishing peace on the Korean peninsula,” Lee said in the Oval Office, sitting alongside Trump.
He added that he hoped Trump might meet with Kim, consider building a Trump Tower in North Korea, and even play golf with the North Korean leader.
“We’ll make relations better,” Trump said in response.
The U.S. president touted his “very good relationship” with the North Korean leader and signaled the possibility of another summit with him.
“I’d like to meet him this year,” Trump said.
During his first term, Trump met with the communist leader three times and became the first sitting U.S. president to step foot in North Korea.
The South Korean leader sought to ease trade tensions with Trump and offered praise during the meeting. He called Trump’s Oval Office renovations “bright and beautiful” and applauded him for the surge in the Dow Jones index.
“I think America is becoming great again,” he said.
He highlighted opportunities for cooperation in shipbuilding and manufacturing.
This marked Lee’s first visit to Washington since taking office in June, following a snap presidential election triggered by political turmoil in South Korea. The crisis began in December 2024, when then-President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and to eliminate “pro-North Korean anti-state forces” that he said were undermining South Korea’s constitutional order—a move that swiftly led to his impeachment and removal from office in April. In the subsequent June election, Lee, representing the liberal Democratic Party, secured victory and assumed the presidency.
Just hours before the White House meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social, prompting speculation about whether the two leaders would be able to build a good relationship.
“WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution,” Trump wrote. “We can’t have that and do business there. I am seeing the new President today at the White House. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”
During the meeting, Trump said he recently heard about raids on churches in the country.
Later, regarding the raids, the U.S. president said, “I am sure it’s a misunderstanding.”
“There is a rumor going around about churches—raiding churches, so we’ll talk. I’m sure that’s going to be worked out fine.”
By Emel Akan
