Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo holds phone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at his office in Seoul on April 8, 2025, in this photo provided by the prime minister’s office. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Acting President Han Duck-soo spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, his office said, marking their first talks since South Korea was thrust into political turmoil triggered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law debacle.
The 28-minute phone talks came four days after South Korea’s Constitutional Court removed Yoon from office over his short-lived martial law imposition in December.
The phone talks also marked the first conversation between Seoul and Washington at the leaders’ level since Trump assumed office in January.
Trump held phone talks with Yoon soon after his election win in November last year. But no phone calls had taken place between Han and Trump in the wake of Yoon’s martial law attempt.
Han’s phone talks with Trump cap monthslong political and diplomatic uncertainties for Seoul as the leadership vacuum has stoked worries over a delay in leader-to-leader engagement with its ally, at a time when it faces a string of issues to address with Washington, from Trump’s tariffs to North Korea’s evolving military threats.
Han, the prime minister who has been serving as acting president since Yoon was impeached in December, was also suspended for nearly three months after the opposition-controlled National Assembly impeached him. He returned to office two weeks ago as the top court dismissed the impeachment.
There was no contact between Trump and then acting President Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister, during Han’s suspension.
(Yonhap)
