South Korean president Lee Jae-myung visited the White House Tuesday for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. This is his first visit to the United States since taking office. Public opinion generally believed that the U. s.-south Korea tariff agreement details and the U. s.-south Korea Alliance“Modernization” is the main issue of bilateral talks. Lee Jae-myung, speaking to reporters on a special plane bound for the US, said Seoul had difficulty agreeing to Washington’s proposal to increase the “Strategic flexibility” of US forces in South Korea in relation to the “Modernisation” of the alliance. “Japan Times” said the so-called increase in“Strategic flexibility,” that U. S. forces in South Korea to play a greater role in confronting China. Lee Jae-myung’s comments suggest he is opposed to shifting the focus of US forces in South Korea to China. U. S. Media focused on 25 South Korean shipbuilding strength. According to the post, Lee Jae-myung arrived at the White House with a gift sure to please Donald Trump — Korean shipbuilding prowess — and a promise to Donald Trump to “Make American shipbuilding great again.”.
South Korean president Lee Jae-myung held a press conference on the 24th aboard a special plane bound for the United States. (IC photo)
Lee Jae-myung: Is it possible to sever ties with the Chinese?
According to the White House, Donald Trump and Lee Jae-myung will hold talks at the White House at 12:15 p.m. ET on the 25th (early China Standard Time on the 26th) , Yonhap said, it will last about 30 minutes and be open to the White House press corps. The two will then have a closed-door luncheon. The US did not arrange a joint press conference after the two leaders’ meeting.
But just hours before their meeting, Donald Trump posted on a social media platform early on the 25th that there “Seems to be a purge or revolution going on” and that “The United States can not tolerate this kind of thing and do business there”. The timing of Donald Trump’s criticism of the political situation bodes ill for the visit, Bloomberg said.
On the eve of the talks, the The Hankyoreh said, the US had been increasing pressure on the “Modernisation” of its alliance with South Korea, publicly demanding “The expansion of deterrence in the indo-pacific region”, it also made more demands on the outcome of tariff negotiations reached on July 30 and urged South Korea to increase investment in the United States. The extent to which Lee Jae-Myung will be able to defend the South Korean national interest in the face of Donald Trump, known for his “Pressure-style negotiations”, has attracted attention.
Lee Jae-myung left for the United States on the presidential plane after concluding his visit to Japan on May 24, and held a press conference on the plane. ‘It’s an objective fact that South Korea is in a more difficult external environment than before, ‘ Lee said. But as president, he should overcome these difficulties to defend the national interest and create a better environment. He said the US believed the agreement reached by South Korea and the US last month was beneficial to the ROK side and US authorities even asked the ROK side to revise parts of the agreement. However, South Korea believes that the US and South Korea reached an agreement through negotiations, and President Donald Trump has also announced the relevant content, should not be easily overturned.
According to the Japan Times, the key issue in the us-south Korea Summit Meeting is the US side’s attempt to“Modernise” the us-south Korea Alliance, shifting the main task of US troops in South Korea to China, rather than North Korea, while putting pressure on South Korea, it is required to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product and pay more to maintain about 28,500 US troops in South Korea. Klinner, an expert on the Korean Peninsula at the Mansfield Foundation, said the blatant imposition of an anti-china mission on US troops in South Korea “Increases the possibility of Chinese pressure on the south or economic retaliation”. Reported that South Korea wants to cooperate with the United States as much as possible, while avoiding confrontation with Beijing.
At the same time as Li is visiting the United States, his special envoy is visiting China. Lee Jae-myung was asked about his diplomatic leanings on the plane, the Asia daily reported Tuesday. He said that the us-south Korea Alliance is the basis of South Korea’s diplomacy, but is it possible to sever ties with China? “If I am ‘pro-china’ Just because I have not severed ties with China, then I must be ‘pro-china’ .”. South Korea is not a country that can survive by interacting with just a few specific countries.
“Only leverage: Shipbuilding.”
Lee’s delegation to the US will include executives from South Korean companies including Samsung Electronics, SK Group, LG and Hanwha. After Lee Jae-myung arrived in the United States, he held a dinner seminar for his compatriots in Washington, DC. He said that South korea-us relations, which began with a military alliance, have gone beyond an economic alliance and are developing into a future-type comprehensive strategic alliance with a technological alliance. Not only in the area of military alliance, but also in shipbuilding, defense industry, nuclear power generation, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and other industries and technology to consolidate cooperation.
“Seoul has used ships as its strongest — and perhaps only — bargaining chip in dealing with Donald Trump. South Korean government officials even named their proposal ‘make American shipbuilding great again’ (MASGA) ,” the post said. The report said Donald Trump had made revitalising the US shipbuilding industry a priority and had repeatedly raised the possibility of co-operation with South Korea in an attempt to close the gap with the dominant Chinese. South Korea is the world’s second-largest shipbuilder after China. Industry sources said Hyundai, which has the world’s largest shipyard in Ulsan, spent about half as much on an American destroyer in Ulsan as it did in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal, 2/3 of the construction time. But U. S. regulations prohibit the construction of U. S. commercial or military vessels overseas.
When the US and South Korea announced the framework for the tariff deal in July, Seoul said it included a $150bn fund dedicated to shipbuilding co-operation, although the details remained unclear. Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on the 25th that the US was “Looking forward to a major shipbuilding agreement with South Korea” and that the two leaders would announce the amount of South Korean investment in the US.
Win-win? America wins?
The US media mostly described the co-operation between the two countries in the shipbuilding industry as a“Win-win”. NBC News quoted experts as saying it was a“Strategic and symbolic victory” for South Korea and the United States, “To ensure us influence in key areas while blocking China’s expansion in global maritime infrastructure”. The Washington Post said the deal could benefit both sides, allowing South Korean companies to expand into the U.S. defense and commercial markets and solidifying South Korea’s position as a key link in the supply chain.
But in Ulsan, many residents are unsure whether closer co-operation with the US is necessarily good news. They suspect South Korean companies will invest less in Ulsan as they invest more in American shipyards and shift more production to the US.
Lee Jae-myung is scheduled to travel to Philadelphia on the 26th to visit the city’s shipyards, which were acquired by Hanwha Ocean last year. NBC said Donald Trump might visit the Philadelphia shipyard with Lee Jae-myung.