U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern on the 25th (local time) ahead of the South Korea-U.S. summit with President Lee Jae-myung about searches on churches within Korea and U.S. military personnel. This referred to investigations conducted by the special investigation teams for the fallen marines and insurrection on several churches and the radar facilities within Osan Air Base. However, after hearing President Lee's explanation during the public meeting, President Trump responded, 'I think it was a misunderstanding.'
Ahead of the summit, President Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying 'What's happening in Korea right now?' and noted 'It looks like a purge or revolution.' He added, 'We cannot accept that, and under such circumstances, we can't conduct business there,' and concluded with, 'I will meet the new president at the White House today.'
Trump's comments came just three hours before the South Korea-U.S. summit. In a meeting with reporters at a White House executive order signing ceremony prior to the summit, President Trump mentioned, 'I've heard reports of vicious searches on (South Korean) churches in the past few days,' and added, 'They even got into our military bases to extract information.' He also said, 'I'm not sure if it's true. I'll check it out,' and added, '(If true) we will not tolerate it.'
These statements could have potentially cast a chill over the atmosphere ahead of the summit. However, the issue was not elaborately discussed during the actual summit.
President Lee explained, 'Korea has only recently overcome the turmoil caused by a palace coup, and facts are being investigated by a special investigation team appointed by the National Assembly concerning the insurrection situation,' adding, 'While it is not under our control, what the Korean prosecutors are doing is fact-checking.' He further explained, 'It wasn't a direct investigation of the U.S. military but a check on how the Korean military control system within the base operated,' and added, 'I will explain this in detail later.'
President Trump then said, 'I heard from sources that we will need to discuss more in the future. To me, it doesn't seem like something that would happen in Korea,' and noted he 'misunderstood' the South Korean special investigation situation.