S. Korea’s Lee makes 2nd US trip in month; trade deal talks unlikely
SEOUL — President Lee Jae Myung departed for the United States from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, on a five-day trip to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
It would be Lee’s second trip to the US in a month, as the president visited Washington for a summit with US President Donald Trump at the White House in late August.
That summit set the tone for an ongoing trade deal to reduce new US tariffs on South Korean goods, including cars, from 25 percent to 15 percent. In return, South Korea agreed to invest $350 billion in US projects at Trump’s discretion.
READ: S. Korea’s Lee Jae Myung begins drive for 2-term presidency
But a deadlock has followed over how to proceed with what was verbally agreed.
Lee was quoted by Reuters in an interview Monday as saying that South Korea would “face a situation as it had in the 1997 financial crisis,” should the trade deal be confirmed without additional measures. One of those was an unlimited currency swap, which he said was needed given the level of investment in US projects.
According to the presidential office, Lee was expecting bilateral talks there with at least five leaders on the sidelines of his New York trip, but was not envisioning a meeting with Trump.
“(Lee’s) meeting with Trump is off the table,” Lee’s national security aide Wi Sung-lac said in a briefing Friday.
READ: S. Korea stops P28.7 billion PH loan, citing risk of corruption
“The last meeting (between Lee and Trump) was held pretty recent, and they might be holding another one in October,” he also said, referring to Trump’s announced plan to visit Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, for the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.
As to Seoul’s ongoing deal with Washington, Wi said Friday there was no immediate issue that must be handled at a meeting between the two heads of state.
Lee’s speech on N. Korea
Lee’s office has said the speech during the general debate of the 80th UN General Assembly on Tuesday will set out a road map for South Korea’s contribution to achieving global peace and prosperity.
Lee is also likely to double down on his pledge to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and reconcile with North Korea through a three-stage framework for denuclearization — a move to reverse the increase in inter-Korean hostility in recent years.
On Monday, the Korean Central News Agency carried a statement by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that signaled an openness to the meeting with Trump.
Kim said he “personally hold(s) fond memories of the current US president,” adding that he was willing to meet Trump if the US “drops the absurd obsession with denuclearizing us and accepts reality.”
Lee’s presence at the UN General Assembly could also set the tone for the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju, as Lee has pledged to serve as a mediator in East Asia geopolitics, as well as working to deescalate tenstions with North Korea.
Lee said in his recent interview with Time Magazine that he would position South Korea as a “bridge” between East and West. Lee also touted himself as a “pacemaker” for Trump’s effort to become a “peacemaker” primarily by spearheading his efforts to engage with Kim.
Against this backdrop, Seoul has welcomed Trump’s announcement that he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. Also, it would be the first occasion in 13 years where leaders of the two superpowers visit South Korea simultaneously, since the Nuclear Security Summit in 2012.
Xi last visited South Korea in July 2014, and Trump did so in June 2019.
An official of the presidential office said Seoul was “willing to provide as much support as possible” to facilitate the meeting.
Wall Street financiers
While in the US this week, Lee is to meet US financiers on Wall Street in New York to persuade them of the South Korean stock market’s growth potential.
On Thursday, Lee is to convene an “investment summit” to request US financiers’ investment in the South Korean stock market.
Korea’s main index, the Kospi, has been on a bull run over the past couple of weeks, and Lee has pledged to bring the Kospi across the 5,000-point threshold, double the level in January this year.
Wi said the Lee administration expected Thursday’s meeting would “resolve the ‘Korea Discount’ and signal the emergence of a ‘Korea Premium,’ further revitalizing the Korean stock market that is on a record run.”
Lee also plans to meet Larry Fink, chief executive officer of US investment firm BlackRock and chair of the World Economic Forum. The presidential office has said the meeting will focus on the transition to artificial intelligence and the energy transition.
Lee is to return to South Korea on Friday. /dl
