South Korea president charmed Trump. Will the bromance last?
Seoul – The first summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and President Trump was an easy picture of Chumminess.
On Monday, the two leaders tied the fact that they both survived assassination attempts and spoke Golf. When Trump admired the handmade wooden fountain pencil, Lee signed the White House guest book and said, “A nice pen, you want to take it with you?” Lee presented it as an improvised gift. A question in front of the reporters -Lee thanked Trump for bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula with his previous peaks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and invited him again to meet with Kim.
“If you are peaceful, then I will help you as a pacemaker, Lee Lee said, giggling.
These scenes seemed to rest the fear that Lee, a former governor and lawmaker with very little experience on the international scene, along with a two -hour closed door meeting between the two leaders, and the fear that he could be exposed to the “Zelensky moment :: Seoul has been bored by a bench for a long time.
The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt organizes a trade letter sent by the White House to South Korea during a press conference. On July 30, the United States made a trade agreement with South Korea, but the details are insufficient.
(Bloomberg / Bloomberg through Getty Images)
It was a carefully prepared result of South Korea.
As a presidential candidate at the beginning of this year, Lee promised that he would bring a diplomatic win at all costs, even if Trump said he had to crawl between his legs ”. In order to correct trade negotiations with the United States in late July, South Korean officials brought red caps with slogans with red caps: “Make America again wonderful.” And before the summit of Monday, Lee compared the notes with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whom he met last week, and brushed his mission by reading “Trump: Art of the Agreement”.
These first efforts so far worked apparently. According to South Korean officials, locking South Korean proposals, such as a plan of $ 150 billion to help the US shipbuilding industry to revive, helped to secure the trade agreement with Washington last month.
“We will buy a ship from South Korea, Tr Trump said on Monday. “But we will also make them make ships here with our people.”
However, although it is seen as a positive first step for Lee, an unpredictable emissions and a figure known for its deep personal diplomacy style, face-to-face chemistry-Analysts say it is too early to be called as earnings. A few unresolved problems still seem big, and as the business level plays negotiations, they can be wheezing in details.
“In fact, I thought that the East Asian Expert of the Quince, a Washington -based thinking tank, said,“ In fact, I thought they could get along surprisingly because both Lee and Trump are not ideologically motivated in foreign policy thoughts and practice. ”
“But it is seen how their relationship emerged. Strong tensions should emerge on trade and safety problems, the relationship between both sides makes it difficult to compromise in the future, the relationship between Lee and Trump will be tested. There is a situation.
Trump last month’s trade agreement on Monday – which reduced the tariff rate in Seoul from 25% to 15% – the details were insufficient and the agreement has not yet been officially officially. However, both sides launched as a gain and left a room to revive long -term disputes on issues such as US rice and beef, which are subject to import restrictions in South Korea.
As part of this agreement, South Korea also promised to invest $ 350 billion in key US industries. However, behind the scenes, officials from both countries do not accept how to configure or use this fund, the US officials are looking for more optional power than the South Korean side will be willing to give.
The US military troops are attending the authority ceremony in South Korea. In the past, President Trump said that South Korea should pay $ 10 billion a year to help 28,500 US troops to be placed in the country.
(Sick Images / Stick Images / Getty Images LightoComeT)
The summit did not fully suppress South Korea’s concerns about defense and military cooperation.
In the past, Trump said that South Korea should pay 10 billion dollars a year to help 28,500 US troops to be placed in the country. This is about nine -fold about nine floors that Seoul is currently paying within the scope of an existing agreement between the two countries.
South Korean officials say that the defense cost -sharing problem is not discussed at the summit on Monday, the parking problem may even re -emerge.
“The alliance cost sharing problem has had a consistent interest in Trump for years,” he said.
Trump’s complaints on the cost of placing the US army in South Korea in South Korea fueled the concerns that the US would attract troops from their bases against China and make the country more vulnerable to North Korea’s military threats.
The scenario has gained faith in recent months after reports that US defense officials reviewed thousands of US military personnel in South Korea to other places in Indo-Pacific places such as Guam Guam.
Although any decrease in the size of the union has been a political anatem in South Korea for a long time, Lee Ho-Gryung, a senior research assistant at the Seoul-based Korean Defense Analysis Institute (KIDA), said that this could be less than a hearing point than that it could propose history for President Lee, and that the South Korean leader could increase his defense efforts.
“This speech and question -the content of the answer shows that the two sides are a bit compatible with these issues,” he said. “But it will still have to be discussed more at the working level.”
When a reporter was asked if he was thinking about reducing the number of US troops in South Korea on Monday, Trump said, orum I don’t want to say that now because I don’t want to say because we are friends, ”he said.
But then he returned to another proposal in South Korea that lifted the eyebrows.
“Maybe one of the things I want to do is to ask them to have the ownership of the land we have the big castle,” he said. “I want to see if we will get rid of the rent.”
Within the scope of an existing regulation known as the Status of the Forces (Sofa), South Korea is currently using the land of the land with its bases without a US military rental. South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-Back, speaking to the legislators on Tuesday, rejected the proposal implying that it might be a negotiation tactic.
“Impossible in the real world,” he said. “However, for President Trump, I think it may be a comment that aims to allow it to make a different strategic demand.”
Meanwhile, a second negotiation round with Kim Jong Un from North Korea will have a win for both leaders.
However, many experts believe that North Korea has been closed since the unsuccessful summits between Trump and Kim in 2018 and 2019. North Korea has recently rejected the attempts to persuade the nuclear weapons to leave the other side as a Mockerry ”.
Lee of the Institute of Defense Analysis of Korean says that personal chemistry between President Lee and Trump can go so far this time.
“North Korea, Russia and China through any economic sanction is effectively escapes,” he said. “The assistance of sanctions is no longer attractive carrot.”
