'What’s going on in South Korea?' Trump suggests ‘purge’ ahead of White House talks with President Lee

Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June following the impeachment of his conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol for briefly imposing martial law, is making his first trip to Washington as president. His visit is seen as crucial in setting the tone for relations with the Trump administration, which has signaled interest in revisiting engagement with Pyongyang.

Lee, a former labor lawyer from the left, has stressed consistency in South Korea’s security policies despite his ideological differences with conservatives. He has maintained joint military drills with the US, expanded ties with Japan, and promoted a phased plan to freeze, reduce and eventually dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program.

Trump, who famously held three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term, has expressed an “appetite for big news” after his August 15 summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no breakthrough on Ukraine, according to Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Having the Alaska summit not go as well as he wanted may make the president much more interested in seeing this meeting with South Korea come off very well,” Cha said.

South Korea’s outreach to Washington comes as North Korea deepens its military ties with Russia, reportedly supplying thousands of troops and weapons to Moscow for its war in Ukraine. Analysts say Pyongyang has little incentive to engage in fresh diplomacy with Seoul or Washington as long as the partnership with Russia is paying dividends.

Rachel Minyoung Lee, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said Seoul will push hard for US support of its phased approach to denuclearization. “From the South Korean government’s point of view, getting the Trump administration’s buy-in on its North Korea policy would be a big diplomatic win,” she noted.