Attention is focusing on why Cheong Wa Dae has recently responded in a "low key (restrained manner)" despite the controversy over "U.S.-North America passing." President Lee Jae-myung was said to have told a closed-door meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, in effect, "Even if we are attacked as being 'passed over,' don't pay attention." It is interpreted to mean that it does not matter who leads or what the procedure is, as long as a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula is secured.
When U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally notified a reduction of the South Korea-U.S. joint drills without prior consultation, President Lee expressed his position directly on the night of the 19th. On X (formerly Twitter), he posted, "I pay tribute to President Trump's decision to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula even by scaling back the drills."
Regarding Trump calling the South Korea-U.S. joint drills "a very insulting thing to someone who has been very exemplary during my term (Kim Jong-un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea)," President Lee said it was "a major decision imbued with deep consideration to move beyond hostility and confrontation to make peace."
After Kim Yo-jong, the Workers' Party of Korea director of the General Affairs Department, issued a statement saying "the South Korea-U.S. blood alliance is a master–subject relationship" and "the South Korean military is a straw-man army," President Lee said, "As a party to peace on the Korean Peninsula, we will continue close coordination between South Korea and the United States, and as a pacemaker, we will also make active efforts to resume U.S.-North Korea talks."
Although remarks by the United States and North Korea are effectively dismissive of South Korea, Cheong Wa Dae has consistently shown a "low key" response. Analysts say this reaction reflects President Lee's view that "a peace regime is a tangible benefit even if we are passed over."
Recently, at a closed-door meeting attended by Office of National Security Director Wi Sung-lac and others, President Lee reportedly said, "If an inter-Korean peace regime is established under U.S. leadership, it will ultimately benefit us," adding in effect, "Don't worry about attacks that we are being 'passed over.'" It is seen as a strategy to focus on achieving the goal of establishing a peace regime even if South Korea does not seize the lead on Korean Peninsula issues. The president is said to have made similar remarks several times at security-related meetings last year.
This reflects the perception that the Moon Jae-in administration's attempt to take the lead with the "Korean Peninsula driver theory" became one of the causes of the "no deal in Hanoi." A key ruling-party official said, "Given the security structure on the Korean Peninsula, U.S.-North Korea talks are more likely than inter-Korean talks, and the chances of reaching an agreement are also higher," adding, "It is President Lee's view that we must accept the reality that the United States will stand at the forefront of negotiations."
Meanwhile, there is an outlook that President Trump will push for U.S.-North Korea talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Shenzhen, China, in Nov. It is analyzed that he will choose U.S.-North Korea talks as a political theme for the U.S. midterm elections in Nov.