South Korean President Lee will journey to Washington for Aug. 25 assembly with Trump

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s new President Lee Jae Myung will journey to Washington later this month to fulfill with U.S. President Donald Trump, Lee’s workplace mentioned Tuesday, for talks on commerce and protection cooperation within the face of nuclear-armed North Korea and different threats.

Their Aug. 25 summit will comply with a July commerce deal during which Washington agreed to chop its reciprocal tariff on South Korea to fifteen% from the initially proposed 25% and to use the identical lowered fee to South Korean vehicles, the nation’s prime export to the United States.

South Korea additionally agreed to buy $100 billion in U.S. vitality and make investments $350 billion within the nation, and Lee and Trump could focus on how the funding bundle might be structured and managed. The talks are anticipated to cowl increasing cooperation in key industries corresponding to semiconductors, batteries and shipbuilding, Lee’s spokesperson Kang Yu-jung mentioned.

Lee, a liberal who gained an early election in June to interchange ousted conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, has made the financial system his prime precedence, aiming to protect the trade-dependent nation from the shocks of Trump’s tariff hikes and his calls for that allies lower reliance on Washington and shoulder extra of their very own protection prices.

Lee’s assembly with Trump comes amid concerns in Seoul that the Trump administration might shake up the decades-old alliance by demanding larger funds for the U.S. troop presence in South Korea and presumably transfer to cut back it as Washington shifts extra deal with China.

Lee and Trump will focus on strengthening the allies’ protection posture in opposition to rising North Korean threats, and in addition growing the partnership right into a “future-oriented, comprehensive strategic alliance” to handle the altering worldwide safety and financial surroundings, based on Kang, who didn’t elaborate on the particular points to be addressed.

Dating again to his first time period, Trump has recurrently referred to as for South Korea to pay extra for the 28,500 American troops stationed on its soil. Recent feedback by key Trump administration officers, together with Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, have additionally recommended a want to restructure the alliance, which some consultants say might probably have an effect on the scale and function of U.S. forces in South Korea.

Under this method, South Korea would take a better function in countering North Korean threats whereas U.S. forces focus extra on China, presumably leaving Seoul to face lowered advantages however elevated prices and dangers, consultants say.

In a gathering with South Korean reporters final week, Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, harassed the necessity to “modernize” the alliance to handle the evolving safety surroundings, together with North Korea’s increasing nuclear program, its deepening alignment with Russia, and what he referred to as Chinese threats to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

When requested a few potential discount in U.S. troops in South Korea, Brunson emphasised capabilities over numbers, highlighting superior techniques like fifth-generation fighters, and in addition harassed strategic flexibility, citing the current deployment of Patriot air protection techniques from South Korea to the Middle East.

“What’s being asked of Korea is to be stronger against DPRK — that we might have the flexibility as we modernize our alliance so that we could go do other things,” Brunson mentioned, utilizing the initials of North Korea’s formal title, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

During his first time period, Trump suspended U.S. navy workout routines with South Korea whereas pursuing diplomacy with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un. They met 3 times in 2018 and 2019 however their diplomacy quickly collapsed over disagreements about exchanging the discharge of U.S.-led sanctions in opposition to the North and the North’s steps to wind down its nuclear and missile program.

Kim has since suspended nearly all diplomacy with Washington and Seoul whereas accelerating the growth of his weapons program. His international coverage precedence is now Russia, which he has equipped with weapons and troops to assist delay Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kim’s highly effective sister not too long ago dismissed Washington and Seoul’s acknowledged needs to restart diplomacy aimed toward defusing the North’s nuclear program, indicating that Pyongyang feels no urgency to renew diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime quickly.

Tensions on the peninsula might rise once more later this month, when South Korea and the United States proceed with their annual large-scale combined military exercises, which start on Aug. 18. North Korea labels the allies’ joint drills as invasion rehearsals and sometimes makes use of them as a pretext to dial up navy demonstrations and weapons exams aimed toward advancing its nuclear program.