U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Monday (August 25, 2025) he hoped to satisfy once more with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, presumably this yr, as he held White Home talks with South Korea’s dovish new chief that bought off awkwardly.
Hours earlier than President Lee Jae Myung arrived for his long-planned first go to to the White Home, Mr. Trump took to social media to denounce what he mentioned was a “Purge or Revolution” in South Korea, apparently over raids that concerned church buildings.
Forty minutes into an Oval Workplace assembly through which Mr. Lee profusely praised Mr. Trump, the U.S. chief dismissed his personal sharply worded rebuke, saying, “I’m certain it’s a misunderstanding” as “there’s a hearsay going round.”
President Donald Trump, proper, speaks throughout a gathering with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, on August 25, 2025
| Photograph Credit score:
AP
Mr. Trump mentioned he believed he was on the identical web page on North Korea as Mr. Lee, a progressive who helps diplomacy over confrontation.
Mr. Trump, who met Kim Jong Un 3 times in his first time period, hailed his relationship with the younger totalitarian and mentioned he knew him “higher than anyone, virtually, aside from his sister.”
“Sometime I’ll see him. I sit up for seeing him. He was excellent with me,” Mr. Trump informed reporters, saying he hoped the talks would happen this yr.
Mr. Trump as soon as mentioned that he and Mr. Kim “fell in love” throughout their conferences, which diminished tensions however failed to provide an enduring settlement.
However Mr. Kim has since been emboldened by the struggle in Ukraine, securing crucial assist from Russia after sending hundreds of North Korean troops to combat.
North Korea has dug in and refused any discuss of ending its nuclear weapons program.
‘Trump Tower’ in Pyongyang
Mr. Lee, a former labor rights lawyer who has criticised the U.S. navy prior to now, instantly flattered his host and mentioned Mr. Trump has made america “not a keeper of peace, however a maker of peace.”
“I sit up for your assembly with Chairman Kim Jong Un and the development of Trump Tower in North Korea and enjoying golf there,” Mr. Lee informed him.
He even cited propaganda from North Korea that denounced South Korea by noting that Pyongyang mentioned the connection with Mr. Trump was higher.
Mr. Kim “shall be ready for you,” Mr. Lee informed him.
In a speech after his assembly, Mr. Lee warned that North Korea might quickly produce 10 to twenty nuclear weapons per yr in addition to a missile that may hit america regardless of strain and sanctions.
“The laborious reality is that the variety of nuclear weapons that North Korea possesses has elevated over the previous three to 4 years,” Mr. Lee mentioned on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
He highlighted his overtures to the North comparable to stopping the blaring of anti-Kim messages over loudspeakers on the navy frontier.
Mr. Lee was elected in June after the impeachment of the extra hawkish Yoon Suk Yeol, who was faraway from workplace after briefly imposing martial regulation.
The raids denounced by Mr. Trump doubtless referred partly to investigations surrounding Mr. Yoon’s conservative allies.
Searching for to purchase base
Korean Air introduced after the talks that it will purchase greater than 100 plane from U.S. producer Boeing, as Mr. Trump presses allies laborious for enterprise.
Mr. Trump, who steadily accuses European allies of freeloading off america, made clear he would search higher compensation by South Korea over the 28,500 US troops within the nation.
He urged america might search to take over base land, an concept prone to enrage Mr. Lee’s brethren on the South Korean left.
“We spent some huge cash constructing a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, however I want to see if we might eliminate the lease and get possession of the land the place we now have a large navy base,” Mr. Trump mentioned.
He additionally spoke bluntly about one in every of South Korea’s most delicate points: so-called “consolation girls” who had been pressured into sexual slavery throughout Japan’s 1910-1945 rule.
The South Korean left has traditionally been outspoken about Japan’s legacy, though Mr. Lee visited Tokyo on his method to Washington, a extremely symbolic cease praised by Trump.
Japan had agreed to compensate consolation girls however the deal was criticised by survivors who questioned Tokyo’s sincerity.
Printed – August 26, 2025 12:09 pm IST
