President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump held a summit on the 25th (local time) at the White House in Washington, D.C. After shaking hands in front of the White House, the two leaders moved to the Oval Office, Trump's office, to begin discussions. President Trump suggested discussing various topics, including shipbuilding cooperation to revive the American shipbuilding industry and the purchase of U.S. weapons. When President Lee said, "Trump is a peacemaker, and I am a pacemaker," Trump and other attendees responded with laughter.
President Lee, mentioning inter-Korean relations, said, "Thanks to President Trump, North Korea and the Korean Peninsula were very stable," and added, "While President Trump was away from U.S. politics, North Korea's missiles and nuclear capabilities have increased, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula has really deteriorated." Trump responded, "If I had been president at the time, that would not have happened." To this, President Lee answered, "I fully agree."
Continuing, he said, "Even when Kim Yo-jong recently criticized the U.S. and me, she said she doesn't doubt the special relationship between President Trump and Chairperson Kim Jong-un," adding, "It seemed like an indication of waiting for dialogue with the U.S." He also noted, "It is indeed challenging for me to improve inter-Korean relations, and the only person who can actually solve this problem is President Trump," referring to President Trump as the "peacemaker" and himself as the "pacemaker."
To this, President Trump replied, "I will do that," adding, "I believe we can achieve significant progress with North Korea together." He also mentioned, "I have a very good relationship with Chairperson Kim Jong-un, and there is mutual respect," adding, "If former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had been elected, we would never have reached such a situation." He further stated, "Initially, Kim Jong-un and I did not have good relations, and there was an incident where we called each other 'Rocket Man.'"
He also praised President Lee's North Korea policy. President Trump said, "I have met many leaders so far, and I think their approach to North Korea was wrong," adding, "But I think President Lee Jae-myung's approach is much better."
◇Lee actively explains 'church and U.S. military base raid controversy' by the special investigation team
Regarding the church and U.S. military base raids during the special investigation process, President Lee explained, "Korea has only recently overcome chaos from a pro-military coup, and a fact-finding investigation is ongoing by a special counsel appointed by the National Assembly regarding the insurrection situation," adding, "We are not in control, but what the Korean prosecutors are doing is fact-checking." Before the summit, President Trump raised an issue, saying, "I heard there was a very vicious raid by the new Korean government on a church recently," adding, "They even entered our military base and extracted information. They shouldn't have done that."
In response, President Lee stated, "We did not directly investigate the U.S. military; it seems they checked how the South Korean military control system within the base operated," adding, "I will explain this in detail later." In response, President Trump also said, "I heard from sources, and it seems like something that wouldn't happen in Korea. We need to discuss this further later." This indicates that he accepted President Lee's explanation, implying a misunderstanding about the situation with the Korean special counsel.