South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump smile during their talks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)
WASHINGTON & SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — When President Lee Jae Myung sat down for his first summit with Donald J. Trump on Monday, the mood could hardly have been more precarious.
Hours earlier, Mr. Trump had taken to Truth Social to suggest that South Korea was undergoing something like a “purge or revolution,” even claiming there had been raids on churches and a U.S. military base.
For Mr. Lee’s aides, the social media broadside recalled a darker precedent: Mr. Trump’s stormy encounter earlier this year with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “They worried it might turn out the same way,” Mr. Lee admitted later in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But the South Korean leader, invoking lessons from Mr. Trump’s own Art of the Deal, said he entered the Oval Office confident that the alliance was “too important” for theatrics to derail.
By the time the talks concluded, he insisted, the atmosphere had shifted. “The outcome was very good,” Mr. Lee said. “The conversations were serious and cooperative.”
A golden turtle ship, a type of Korean traditional warship, is seen in this photo provided by the presidential office. President Lee Jae Myung presented it as a gift to U.S. President Donald Trump following their summit at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025 (local time). (Yonhap)
The meeting, which stretched two and a half hours across an Oval Office session, an expanded discussion and a working lunch, ended on a cordial note. Mr. Lee even joked about Mr. Trump one day building a “Trump Tower” in North Korea and playing golf there together, while nudging him to play the role of “peacemaker” with Kim Jong-un.
The warmth extended into an unusually personal gift exchange. Mr. Lee handed Mr. Trump a custom golf putter, a model of a turtle ship — the famed 16th-century Korean war vessel — and even a “MAGA” cowboy hat.
When the former U.S. president admired Mr. Lee’s signature pen, the South Korean leader simply gave it to him. Mr. Trump, in turn, ushered the delegation into a “gift room,” encouraging them to pick out MAGA caps, golf balls and pins, which he signed, and handing out presidential coins.
This photo, provided by the presidential office, shows gift items — a MAGA hat, a presidential coin — from U.S. President Donald Trump following his summit with President Lee Jae Myung at the White House on Aug. 25, 2025 (local time). (Yonhap)
Mr. Trump, who later praised Mr. Lee as a “very good guy” and a “very good representative for South Korea,” seemed intent on projecting goodwill. South Korea’s presidential office echoed that framing, calling the encounter “a time for the two leaders to build mutual affection and trust.”
If the day had begun with the threat of rupture, it ended with Mr. Lee relieved. “Everyone gave me the same advice before the meeting: be patient,” he told his Washington audience. “I’m very glad to hear it was a good meeting.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
