U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Monday (August 25, 2025) he hoped to meet again with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, presumably this 12 months, as he held White House talks with South Korea’s dovish new chief that received off awkwardly.
Hours earlier than President Lee Jae Myung arrived for his long-planned first go to to the White House, Mr. Trump took to social media to denounce what he mentioned was a “Purge or Revolution” in South Korea, apparently over raids that concerned church buildings.
Forty minutes into an Oval Office assembly through which Mr. Lee profusely praised Mr. Trump, the U.S. chief dismissed his personal sharply worded rebuke, saying, “I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding” as “there is a rumour going around.”
President Donald Trump, proper, speaks throughout a gathering with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung within the Oval Office of the White House, on August 25, 2025
| Photo Credit:
AP
Mr. Trump mentioned he believed he was on the identical web page on North Korea as Mr. Lee, a progressive who helps diplomacy over confrontation.
Mr. Trump, who met Kim Jong Un thrice in his first time period, hailed his relationship with the younger totalitarian and mentioned he knew him “better than anybody, almost, other than his sister.”
“Someday I’ll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me,” Mr. Trump instructed reporters, saying he hoped the talks would happen this 12 months.
Mr. Trump as soon as mentioned that he and Mr. Kim “fell in love” throughout their conferences, which decreased tensions however failed to produce an enduring settlement.
But Mr. Kim has since been emboldened by the struggle in Ukraine, securing vital help from Russia after sending hundreds of North Korean troops to battle.
North Korea has dug in and refused any speak of ending its nuclear weapons program.
‘Trump Tower’ in Pyongyang
Mr. Lee, a former labor rights lawyer who has criticised the U.S. army prior to now, instantly flattered his host and mentioned Mr. Trump has made the United States “not a keeper of peace, but a maker of peace.”
“I look forward to your meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un and the construction of Trump Tower in North Korea and playing golf there,” Mr. Lee instructed him.
He even cited propaganda from North Korea that denounced South Korea by noting that Pyongyang mentioned the connection with Mr. Trump was higher.
Mr. Kim “will be waiting for you,” Mr. Lee instructed him.
In a speech after his assembly, Mr. Lee warned that North Korea might quickly produce 10 to 20 nuclear weapons per 12 months in addition to a missile that may hit the United States regardless of strain and sanctions.
“The hard fact is that the number of nuclear weapons that North Korea possesses has increased over the past three to four years,” Mr. Lee mentioned on the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He highlighted his overtures to the North reminiscent of stopping the blaring of anti-Kim messages over loudspeakers on the army frontier.
Mr. Lee was elected in June after the impeachment of the extra hawkish Yoon Suk Yeol, who was faraway from workplace after briefly imposing martial legislation.
The raids denounced by Mr. Trump doubtless referred partly to investigations surrounding Mr. Yoon’s conservative allies.
Seeking to purchase base
Korean Air introduced after the talks that it might purchase greater than 100 plane from U.S. producer Boeing, as Mr. Trump presses allies onerous for enterprise.
Mr. Trump, who often accuses European allies of freeloading off the United States, made clear he would search higher compensation by South Korea over the 28,500 US troops within the nation.
He prompt the United States might search to take over base land, an concept doubtless to enrage Mr. Lee’s brethren on the South Korean left.
“We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base,” Mr. Trump mentioned.
He additionally spoke bluntly about one in all South Korea’s most delicate points: so-called “comfort women” who had been compelled into sexual slavery throughout Japan’s 1910-1945 rule.
The South Korean left has traditionally been outspoken about Japan’s legacy, though Mr. Lee visited Tokyo on his means to Washington, a extremely symbolic cease praised by Trump.
Japan had agreed to compensate consolation girls however the deal was criticised by survivors who questioned Tokyo’s sincerity.
