Trump Slams South Korea Hours Before Summit With New President Lee

US President Donald Trump criticized South Korea just hours before a summit on Monday with its new President, Lee Jae Myung, as conflict over defense spending and trade tests the two countries' decades-old alliance.

The leaders were gearing up for their first summit when Trump said on social media, without providing evidence, that there "Seems like a Purge or Revolution" in South Korea and that "We can't have that and do business there."

The remarks cast a dark mood over what, for Lee, are high-stakes talks. He took office in June following a snap election called after his conservative predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, was removed for his December attempt to impose martial law.

South Korea's economy relies heavily on the U.S., with Washington underwriting its security with troops and nuclear deterrence. Lee wants to chart a balanced path of cooperation with the U.S., while avoiding antagonizing South Korea's top trade partner, China.

Trump did not spell out the reasons for his complaint. But they appeared aligned with those lodged by Korea's far-right movement, especially evangelical Christians and supporters of Yoon, who is on trial on charges of inciting an insurrection.

Those Yoon supporters see the ex-president as the subject of communist persecution and have leveled unsubstantiated claims of election tampering in the vote that brought Lee to power in June.

South Korea's presidential office told local media they were looking into the matter. The White House did not immediately respond to emailed questions about Trump's post.

South Korea has long come under targeted criticism from Trump, who has called it a "money machine" that takes advantage of American military protection.

"Regardless of how this specific incident plays out, Trump has nicely illustrated how unreliable and capricious he is for allies," said Mason Richey, professor at Seoul's Hankuk University.

COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS

The two countries are engaged in lower-level negotiations over trade, nuclear power, and military spending. Several top officials, including the foreign minister, rushed to Washington over the weekend to try to iron out final details.

Trump planned to discuss "North Korea, defense posture, trade barriers, maritime security, American shipbuilding, energy dominance, and more," according to a White House official.

Lee's goal coming into the meeting has been to sidestep some of the thorniest issues, make a good impression, connect personally with Trump, and above all, avoid any unpleasant surprises, analysts said.

As part of his preparations for the summit, Lee told reporters during his flight to Washington that he had read "Trump: The Art of the Deal," the president's 1987 memoir.

Under heavy pressure from Trump's administration, South Korean negotiators secured a last-minute deal last month to avoid the harshest of new U.S. tariffs, but they must still hammer out details of billions of dollars in promised investments in the United States.

"There are many major topics in the security field," Lee's top policy aide, Kim Yong-beom, said last week. "Our position is that trade was already finalized last time. We hope that specific implementation plans for trade won't be included in the summit at all, or at least should be kept simple if discussed."

Lee, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, will highlight some of South Korea's expected investments when he visits a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by the country's Hanwha Group after the summit. Cooperation to help the ailing U.S. shipbuilding sector is part of the broad tariff agreement reached between the countries.

ENGAGING NORTH KOREA

Trump is expected to pressure Lee to commit to more spending on defense, including potentially billions of dollars more toward the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea.

Wi Sung-lac, Lee's top security adviser, said South Korea was in talks with Washington over defense spending, taking as a reference NATO's agreement on a big new defense spending target. Wi added that the government was also looking into a plan for the purchase of American weapons.

While focusing on increasing military spending, Lee will likely seek to avoid conversations about a potential reduction of U.S. troops or using them for a wider range of operations, or details on modernizing the alliance, said Duyeon Kim, from the Center for a New American Security.

Lee told reporters it would be difficult for Seoul to accept the demand by the U.S. to adopt "flexibility" in operating the U.S. military stationed in South Korea. The phrase means allowing U.S. troops in the country to address regional security issues, such as China, in addition to North Korea.

"They should leave those topics for working-level officials to hash out," Kim said. "Ambition could backfire."

As he headed to the U.S., Lee sent a special delegation to Beijing, which delivered a message calling for normalized relations with China that have been strained in recent years.

Trump and Lee may also discuss efforts to persuade North Korea to freeze and eventually abandon its nuclear weapons program. Both leaders support engaging Pyongyang, and Lee has called for a phased approach to denuclearization.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says South Korea and the U.S. remain hostile to his country, and he will never give up his nuclear arsenal. Over the weekend, Kim supervised the test firing of new air defense systems.

Before meeting Trump, the South Korean leader traveled to Tokyo to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday to build on cooperation between South Korea, Japan, and the U.S.

A commentary carried by North Korea's state media on Monday criticized Lee's "despicable" trip to Tokyo as a "begging message towards the master of the White House" by highlighting trilateral military cooperation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)