Trump’s two-day visit to key US ally South Korea is the third leg of a trip to Asia that has seen him lauded at a regional summit in Malaysia and flattered as a “peacemaker” by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
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Upon his arrival in the historic capital of Gyeongju, his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung gifted him with a replica of a golden crown once worn by the country’s kings.
But the eyes of the world are on another meeting set for Thursday – the first time in six years Trump sits down with China's Xi.
The meeting could determine whether the United States and China can halt a trade war that has roiled global markets and sent international supply chains into panic.
“I think we’re going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved,” Trump said en route to South Korea where he is due to meet with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
He also said he was “not sure” whether he would discuss the sensitive topic of self-ruling Taiwan during his meeting with the Chinese leader.
Negotiators from Beijing and Washington have both confirmed that a “framework” for the meeting had been agreed.
No meeting with Kim
Speaking at a summit of APEC CEOs in Gyeongju before his meeting with Lee, Trump said a trade deal with South Korea would be finalised “very soon”, though officials on both sides have been downplaying the prospect of a breakthrough this week.
The allies unveiled a deal in late July under which Seoul would avoid the worst of the tariffs by agreeing to pump $350 billion of new investments into the United States. But talks over the structure of those investments have been deadlocked.
At the start of a working lunch topped off with a “golden dessert”, Lee pledged to spend more on defence, as he sought to head off a Trump concern that allies are not pulling their weight militarily.
He also asked that the US allow the country to reprocess nuclear fuel to power submarines. Seoul is barred from doing so without US consent, under a pact between the countries.
Trump pledged to help “straighten out” South Korea’s problems with its nuclear-armed northern neighbour. The two are still technically at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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Trump had extended a meeting invitation also to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but just hours before the US president touched down in the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang test-fired cruise missiles off its western coast in a message to its “enemies”.
“I know Kim Jong-un very well... we really weren’t able to work out timing,” Trump said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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