But any prospect of a hostile Oval Office meeting evaporated after Lee heaped praise onto the US president — lauding the decor, beseeching Trump to continue to help with Korean peace efforts and even suggesting a Trump Tower in North Korea.
“We’ve known each other and gotten along very well,” Trump said, before adding: “It’s a great honour to be with you and congratulations on your election. That was a big one, and we’re with you 100 per cent.”
The cordial display showed how world leaders are taking notes from previous meetings between Trump and heads of state, who’ve largely chosen the route of praise and adulation rather than confrontation as they seek favourable trade terms and continued military aid from Washington.
Lee, elected in June, began by praising one of Trump’s pet projects: presidential interior design.
“I heard that you recently redecorated the Oval Office, and I would like to say that it looks very bright and beautiful,” Lee said through an interpreter. “It has the dignity of America, and it symbolises the new future and prosperity of America.”
Lee also agreed with Trump’s assertion that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would not have continued to enhance his nuclear capabilities the last few years had Trump remained in office.
Noting a “renaissance” that is taking place, Lee said, “I believe you are the only leader who has made such accomplishments.”
What happened in South Korea
The tone was a far cry from Trump’s confrontational social media post earlier on Monday.
He later elaborated that he was referring to raids on churches and on a US military base by the new South Korean government, which they “probably shouldn’t have done.”
“I heard bad things,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday morning. “I don’t know if it’s true or not. I’ll be finding out.”
Trump did not identify specific raids. But earlier this month, South Korean police raided a church led by a conservative activist pastor who authorities allege is connected to a riot by Yoon’s supporters at a Seoul court in January, after it issued an arrest warrant for him.
A special prosecutor’s team that is investigating corruption allegations against Yoon’s arrested wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, also raided the facilities of the Unification Church over allegations that one of its officials gave her luxury goods.
Meanwhile, Osan Air Base, which is jointly operated by the United States and South Korea, was also the target of a raid last month by investigators looking into how Yoon’s activation of martial law transpired. South Korean investigators stressed the search was limited to areas controlled by Seoul and did not involve US military operations.
Asked about his assertions by a reporter in front of Lee, Trump declined to confront the South Korean president and instead said the two will discuss it later.
“It didn’t sound to me like South Korea,” Trump said.
Lee explained that the special prosecutor was tapped by the country’s National Assembly to investigate the actions of Yoon, who Lee said staged a “self-coup.”
At that point, Trump interjected, “Is his name Deranged Jack Smith, by any chance?” He was referring to the special prosecutor who led two criminal cases against Trump before the Republican president was reelected to a second term.
Yoon, who was elected to a five-year term in 2022, was considered more ideologically aligned with Trump and had even taken up golfing again after the U.S. president was reelected last November to try to forge a bond with him.
Lee led the South Korean parliament’s efforts to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree while impeaching him. The nation’s Constitutional Court formally dismissed Yoon in April.
Elected in June, Lee was a former child laborer with an arm deformity who rose his way through South Korea’s political ranks to lead the liberal Democratic Party and win the presidency after multiple attempts.
At a subsequent remarks in Washington on Monday night, Lee suggested that Trump’s post had been “threatening” and said it had him worried he might face a “Zelenksyy moment” — similar to when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was hounded out of the Oval Office by Trump and Vice President JD Vance following a contentious meeting in February.
But Lee also said the South Korean-US relationship was strong enough that he was confident Trump wouldn’t work to undermine it. Instead, he said the pair had “very good conversations” that went “beyond my expectations” and took longer than originally scheduled.
“Everybody gave me the advice to have patience,” Lee said of his meeting with Trump.
He said he also told Trump that South Korea would increase its defence spending, even as it works to ease tensions between his country and North Korea.
“We will increase our defence budget, which will be used to transform the Korean military into a smart military that will prevail in future,” Lee said.
Lee said he and Trump also discussed modernising their countries’ trade relations, which follows a July deal that has Seoul investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. That agreement set tariffs on South Korean goods at 15 per cent after Trump threatened rates as high as 25 per cent.
Seoul has one of the largest trade surpluses among Washington’s NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, and countries where the US holds a trade deficit has drawn particular ire from Trump, who wants to eliminate such trade imbalances.
Trump also said Monday that he’d like to scrap the US lease with South Korea that covers Osan Air Base and instead get ownership of the land.
