President Lee Jae Myung speaks to a packed room at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday evening in Washington, hours after his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo by Bridget Erin Craig/UPI
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung underscored his priorities for strengthening the U.S.-ROK alliance, from boosting defense spending to engaging North Korea, during a forum Monday, just hours after meeting with President Donald Trump.
Lee emphasized at the Center for Strategic and International Studies a positive takeaway from his meeting with Trump despite some trepidation as some 200 professors and policymakers listened attentively.
Those who wanted to hear what the new president had to say included former U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills; U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Chairman Roy Ryu of the Korean Poongsan Corp.; former Secretaries of Defense Chuck Hagel and William S. Cohen; and various current and former State Department officials.
John J. Hamre, the center’s president and chief executive officer, opened the event with praise for South Korea’s resilience amid recent political turmoil.
“President Lee’s election was not a normal election. It occurred in the context of a diplomatic crisis and a constitutional crisis in Korea,” Hamre said. “The Korean people stood up. The Korean people asserted their democracy, and it was very reassuring for those of us who have dedicated our lives to building a stronger Korea.
“You’re bringing that new direction for Korea, President Lee.”
Lee acknowledged that Korea has faced crises, but argued the country has consistently shown resilience and unity. He pointed to Korea’s ability to sustain peace among diverse religions without conflict as a cultural model to the world.
With Korea and the United States marking 70 years of partnership, Lee said that record has laid the foundation for a future rooted in shared democratic values.
“It is a dream that can come true because the people [Koreans] believe it,” Lee said.
South Korea overcame a coup on Dec. 7 when then President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, and Lee noted that it ended through peaceful protest and the election of a new government by people who “cherish freedom and democracy.”
That, he contended, underscored Korea’s readiness to stand with the United States on global challenges.
“Democracy is the ultimate form of culture and arts,” Lee said.
Lee said his government was prepared to take a leading role on the Korean peninsula by raising defense spending, while Trump is committed to expanding U.S. defense resources in response to threats, particularly North Korea’s nuclear program.
Lee repeated an earlier statement that the alliance was “ironclad” and argued that resolving tensions with the North was the key to lasting peace and the safety of U.S. troops stationed in Korea.
“Without support from the U.S. and international community, Korea won’t be where it is today,” Lee said.
He described his efforts at creating a dialogue with Pyongyang, including halting nonstop propaganda broadcasts at the border that kept North Koreans awake at night, a move he said North Koreans quietly appreciated.
Reducing such tensions, Lee maintained, could open the door to more productive diplomacy and ultimately a stronger United States-Korea alliance.
The audience extended beyond Washington insiders. Some attendees had traveled from outside the capital to hear Lee speak in person, including David Fields, associate director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I thought he was very forthright the way he talked about his anxieties over meeting Donald Trump, going into that with a little trepidation after what he’s seen happen in the oval office,” Fields said.
“He did use the ‘ironclad’ language at least two or three times, and the more leaders use the term ‘ironclad,’ the slightly more nervous I get.”
Lee also emphasized cultural exchange as a measure of the alliance’s strength, citing concepts that drew laughter from the crowd — the spread of hamburgers in Korea, kimbap in the United States and the global popularity of K-pop. But he repeated that these cultutal exchanges contributed to an alliance between the two nations.
“The Golden era is yet to come, not because we lack something, but [because] possibilities are endless,” Lee said when describing future cooperation.
He said Japan cannot be left out of this equation, as trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo will be essential to address North Korea and drive technological innovation.
When asked about South Korea’s partnership with China, Lee emphasized its inevitability given the two countries’ proximity, but pointed out that the difference in political beliefs could lead to supply chain interruptions.
“I thought he did a really good job at articulating the ROK relationship with China, which is kind of a sticky issue,” Fields said. “But he is making the argument that Korea is next door to China, they are neighbors, so South Korea’s options for dealing with China are different than dealing with the United States.”
Kearis Germans, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, reacted similarly to Lee’s answer to the question about China.
“Progressives in Korea in general are hesitant about upsetting China, or maybe causing undue backlash to Korea that Koreans would suffer economically,” Germans said. “They are very careful to try to walk that tight rope of wanting to be a good ally and get on board with what the Trump administration wants, but pushing back slightly.”
Lee confessed he felt threatened by Trump’s post on his Truth Social before Monday’s summit, when he wrote, “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. 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!!!”
The Korean president joked that he read Trump: The Art of the Deal and concluded he did not believe Trump comes to unreasonable conclusions with allies, particularly with one as important as South Korea, and he characterized their conversation Monday as “beyond expectations.”
“It was nice to hear him [Lee] comment on the personaality management that goes on behind the scenes,” Germans said. “He used some of the language that Trump has also been pushing,” referring to talk of modernization.
