(Original title: Li in Ming: South Korea can no longer follow the "safe rely on the United States, the economy rely on China" route)

According to the Associated Press, South Korean President Li said on May 25 in Washington that, unlike in the past, the South Korean side cannot continue to follow the so-called "Americian" route (safe relying on the United States, economy relying on China).

Trump welcomes visit of South Korean President Lee in Ming (data map)

Lee Zee-ming was invited to deliver a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, on the same day, and made the above statement that "South Korea relies on the United States for security and seeks economic benefits from elsewhere."

According to the report, "Anmei Economic and China" refers to South Korea's security cooperation with the United States and economic cooperation with China, striving to "right and left" between the United States and China.

Lee said that South Korea adhered to the "An-Mexico-China" line before the United States strongly held China, and even adopted a blockade policy against China. In recent years, the international community has seen a supply chain restructuring, and the United States has made clear its policy to contain China.

Li Zaiming pointed out that while the United States and China form a competitive or even confrontational relationship, they also cooperate in individual fields. This is an undeniable fact. South Korea and China are geographically close, and South Korea is committed to properly handling inevitable problems between the two countries and maintaining bilateral relations.

Further reading

Lee Jae-myung's White House "Tightrope Show": Carefully prepared for a straight back, laughing about North Korea and looking at the faces of China and the United States

"What happened in South Korea? It looks like a purge or revolution. We can't continue to do business with them under such circumstances. Today, I want to meet the new president at the White House. Thank you for your attention!" On the morning of August 25th, local time, US President Trump "attacked" the summit meeting between South Korea and the United States on social media "Real Social". At that time, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung was about to visit the White House, and dramatic tension filled the air.

At noon on the 25th, after arriving at the White House, Lee Jae-myung got off the bus with a smile on his face and shook hands with Trump who was greeted at the door. It can be seen from the live media footage that Lee Jae-myung kept his back straight and his hands on his knees during the public talks, in contrast to Trump, who was relaxed on the side.

On August 25, 2025 local time, in Washington, D.C., US President Trump shook hands with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in the Oval Office of the White House

This was the first meeting between Lee and Trump since he took office in June, with the two sides holding about 54 minutes of open talks, followed by large-scale talks in a closed-door cabinet meeting room and a working lunch.

In a public conversation with reporters, Trump spoke about the U.S.-Korean alliance, and said the United States is considering purchasing ships from South Korea, and South Korea will increase investment in the United States. Li said in the opening session that he hoped that the U.S.-Korean alliance will not only be limited to the military field, but will further expand to the economic and technological fields and develop into a future-oriented alliance.

A spokesman for the South Korean Presidential Chamber told the media that during the closed-door talks, Trump wrote his own hand on the note: ¡°You are a great person and a great leader ... I am always with you¡± and handed it to Lee in Ming. According to U.S. media reports, Lee expressed his praise for Trump¡¯s role in solving conflicts around the world, and joked that President Trump should build a ¡°Trump Building¡± in North Korea and play a golf with North Korea¡¯s top leader Kim Jong Un, causing Trump to laugh continuously.

Notably, Trump has repeatedly described him as "getting along well" with Kim Jong Un, saying North Korea has "huge potential." Lee Zae-ming proposed a meeting between U.S. and North Korean leaders. Trump responded that this was a wise proposal and said in response to reporters 'questions after the meeting that he hoped to meet Kim Jong Un within the year.

Judging from the information released by South Korea and the United States after the meeting, the two sides did not touch on substantive issues in the economic and security fields. When Trump was asked by the media about the reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea and the negotiation of trade agreements, he did not make a clear statement.

Zhan Debin, vice president of the Korean Peninsula Research Society of Shanghai City and director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, told the paper that the talks were relatively successful in terms of establishing personal relationships between the leaders of South Korea and the United States. However, no progress was released, such as the follow-up details of the tariff negotiations and the issue of modernization of the South Korea-US alliance raised by the United States, which reflects Trump's unpredictability. For South Korea, no agreement was reached on the issues set up before the trip, and this meeting can only be regarded as no failure.

On the other hand, while Lee Jae-ming visited the United States, a special envoy delegation of the South Korean President was visiting China to convey the message that "the President attaches great importance to South Korea-China relations." The Washington Post said that for Li Zai-ming, the meeting was a diplomatic "tightrope show", especially to deal with the balance of Sino-US relations. South Korean officials say they want to avoid embarrassing situations in the Oval Office similar to those of Ukraine President Zelensky.

Before meeting strong pressure, after seeing ¡°still friends¡±

On the afternoon of August 24, local time, Li Ziming and his wife Jin Huijing arrived at Joint Base Andrews in the suburbs of Washington. Abby Jones, deputy director of the Protocol Department of the U.S. State Department, wore sunglasses, came forward to welcome and shake hands. Colonel Joshua Jin of the U.S. Air Force. He presented a commemorative coin, and Li Ziming took a look at it and put it in his suit pocket. The etiquette arrangements were relatively simple.

On August 24, 2025 local time, in Washington, D.C., South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hye-gyung arrived at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C., and stepped off Air Force One.

In some South Korean online communities, there is a saying that the "president was given a cold reception", and it is compared to the scene of the US laying the red carpet and arranging an honor guard to greet the former South Korean president Yoon Seok-yeok when he visited the United States in April 2023. In fact, the format of Lee Jae-ming and Yoon Seok-yeok's visit is different. Yoon Seok-yeok's visit to the United States two years ago was a state visit. Lee Jae-ming's work visit focused on practical negotiations and other work. However, judging from the content of the public talks between the two sides, the practical consultations seem to be less "real".

Before the talks, South Korea's head of national security, Wei Shengluo, said that the leaders of the two countries will focus on three main topics: stabilizing South Korea-US economic and trade relations, modernizing the South Korea-US alliance, and exploring new areas of cooperation. Recently, the US has been increasing pressure on South Korea on the issue of alliance modernization, publicly calling for "expanding deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region", and putting forward new requirements for further opening up the market for agricultural and livestock products in the tariff negotiations reached on July 30, while urging South Korea to expand investment in the United States.

Around the US-Korea trade deal, Trump posted on social media on July 31 ¡°Truth Social¡± that ¡°under the agreement, South Korea will provide $350 billion to U.S. owned and controlled investment projects, which will be selected by me personally as president.¡±

According to South Korea's "Central Daily News" report, sources said that the US made a request before the ROK-US summit, saying that the US $350 billion investment promised by South Korea must be stated in the outcome document of the summit meeting, but the extent to which it should be written in the document is controversial. During the negotiation process, the United States even once proposed the possibility of canceling the summit meeting as a means to enhance the bargaining chips. "The pressure from the United States is much more violent than expected."

Faced with the grim situation, South Korean Foreign Minister Zhao Xian had to take the lead. On the occasion of the upcoming summit meeting between South Korea and Japan on August 23rd, Zhao Xian left for the United States on the afternoon of 21st. According to Korea Radio International (KBS), it is very rare for a South Korean foreign minister to visit the United States alone instead of visiting Japan with the president. Moreover, Zhao Xian didn't take a direct flight to Washington, but chose a flight that connected via Atlanta and could arrive in Washington earlier. South Korean Foreign Ministry officials explained that Zhao Xian's early visit to the United States was to make full preparations for the talks.

At the same time, three main aides from the South Korean Presidential Office were dispatched collectively. South Korea's National Security Office Director Wei Sung-lok, President of the Policy Office of the President's Office Kim Yong Pham, and President's Secretary's Office Director Kang Hoon Sik all joined the visit team. South Korean media said that when the South Korean president visits, the head of the presidential secretary usually stays in the country to handle affairs. This time, he personally went to the United States to prepare for the talks.

At the White House meeting, Lee said South Korea was willing to participate in the rejuvenation of manufacturing industries such as the shipbuilding industry that the United States is pushing. Trump said the United States intended to purchase some ships from South Korea, while hoping that South Korean shipbuilders would produce in the United States with local labor.

After the meeting, Mr. Trump said of the US-South Korea economic relationship that Seoul wanted to "renegotiate" the US-South Korea trade deal reached in July. "I don't mind. That doesn't mean they get anything". This was interpreted as a sign that the US would not concede in trade talks.

Just hours after Lee Jae-myung's talks with Trump, Korean Air announced it would buy more than 100 Boeing aircraft. Agence France-Presse said that this is the biggest transaction in the history of Korean aviation. According to reports, the purchase also includes the purchase of spare aero engines from General Electric Company of the United States, with a total value of about $50 billion. The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered "by the end of 2030."

Trump said he would soon visit South Korea to attend a South Korean-hosted economic and trade conference, according to the Associated Press, which is likely to be designated for an informal meeting of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization, which will be held in South Korea from October 31 to November 1.

In addition, around the ¡°modernization of the Korean-American alliance¡±, the US demanded that South Korea increase defense spending and increase the strategic flexibility of the U.S. military in South Korea. Li said on the plane to the United States: ¡°It is difficult to agree.¡± ¡°The New York Times notes that South Korea is concerned that this ¡°strategic flexibility¡± as the United States calls it could make South Korea more vulnerable to North Korean attacks and increase the possibility of South Korea¡¯s involvement in the Taiwan Sea situation.

However, South Korea and the United States did not explain the modernization of the alliance, but Trump proposed to ask the South Korean side to hand over the land ownership of some "large military bases" of US troops stationed in South Korea to the United States, so as to get rid of the "lease" matter. In fact, according to the agreement between the United States and South Korea on the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, South Korea not only provides land to the United States free of charge for use as a U.S. military base, but also shares a large amount of expenses for maintaining the garrison.

There are still many unresolved issues between the United States and South Korea. In addition to the follow-up of trade negotiations, there are also the size of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and the defense expenses shared by South Korea. After the meeting, Trump refused to say whether he would reduce the size of US troops stationed in South Korea. He told reporters: "We have always been friends, and we are still friends."

Li Qing, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that compared to the Biden administration, the Trump administration reduced the role of the Korean-American alliance. As Trump said earlier ¨C South Korea is a ¡°money-making machine¡±, he emotionally disregarded South Korea and attached importance to North Korea. However, this does not mean that the proximity of the US-Korean alliance has been greatly weakened because the interaction and some cooperation mechanisms have been established for a long time between the US-Korean alliance and the U.S. and Japan.

North Korea issues both parties are interested in.

Asked on Monday's flight to the US how he was preparing to negotiate with Mr. Trump, Mr. Lee laughed and said: "President Trump has written all about how he negotiates in'The Art of the Deal, '" suggesting he had learnt Mr. Trump's negotiating style. "The Art of the Deal," a 1987 biography of Mr. Trump and the journalist Tony Schwartz, describes how Mr. Trump does business.

¡°Some say I¡¯m like ¡®Trump of South Korea.¡¯¡± Lee said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last December, ¡°I¡¯m not an extreme partyist, but a realist.¡±¡±He highly praised Trump, who was then a presidential candidate, for aiming to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and for his intention to rebuild relations with the DPRK.

Li has some things in common with Trump, both escaped assassination before taking office, and the two talked about this "common experience" when they first called in June this year.

At the opening of the summit, Lee said he hoped Trump would meet Kim Jong-un, who is the only person who could solve the issue. This seemed to open Trump¡¯s box of words about North Korea. The New York Times said that Trump appeared to be eager to intervene in one of the toughest issues in Korean politics, and he repeatedly pulled the topic back to his relationship with Kim Jong-un during the talks, and even once proposed to arrange a meeting for Kim Jong-un and Lee in Beijing.

However, the current atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula is not harmonious.Lee quickly reversed the hard line of his predecessor Yongxiang against the DPRK after taking office, stopping the broadcasting of the DPRK for more than a decade, and recently said that the Korean side is ready to implement the feasible parts of the existing DPRK agreement in stages.

Kim Jong-un, Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee of the Labour Party of the DPRK, said on July 28 that in the past, South Korea unilaterally declared North Korea as its main enemy and advocated the atmosphere of extreme confrontation, it was impossible to change all the results in a few words.

During Trump's first presidential term, Trump and Kim met for the first time in the history of the DPRK in Singapore in June 2018, a second meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam in February 2019, and met again in Panmunjom, the non-military district of the Korean Peninsula, in June of the same year.

Since his second presidential term, Trump has been trying to promote the realization of another dialogue between the DPRK and the United States, while now Lee Jae-myung hopes that Trump will bridge the gap between the DPRK and the ROK.

The long-term study of the US policy on the Korean Peninsula, Li Qing believes that it is unlikely to want to communicate with the United States through South Korea as during the administration of Moon Jae-in, but rather the possibility of the United States directly establishing a channel of dialogue is greater.The inter-Korean statements such as Trump are based on probation, can also look at the North Korean response, also rely on the working level of the US and DPRK contacts. "- Li Qing told the news, North Korea facing the U.S. side probation may make a long-term comprehensive consideration, U.S. contacts will weaken the Korean-U.S. relations, but also may affect the Russian-Korean relations.

Li believes that for the United States, the Trump administration may still take the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as the first choice in foreign affairs, in the case of the Russian-Ukrainian issue has not yet been resolved, to a breakthrough in the relations with the DPRK, necessarily involves many other relations, needs to take into account the relations of the DPRK, DPRK and the US-Korean allies.

The United States and South Korea warned North Korea, while conducting joint military exercises as usual.The Central Communications Agency of North Korea published a commentary on August 20 condemning the joint military exercises conducted by South Korea and the United States of the "Bishop of Liberty Shield".The article said that the aggressiveness of the large-scale joint military exercises, the nature of provocation and the negative impact on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region will not change.

"Han can no longer follow the route of Amy.

On August 25, after the end of the talks with Trump, Li Ming was invited to give a speech at the U.S. think tank "Center for Strategic and International Issues Research" (CSIS).According to the Associated Press, Li Ming said in the speech that, unlike in the past, the South Korean side cannot continue to follow the "Amnesty International (safe based on the United States, economy based on China)" route.

Li said that in recent years there has been a supply chain restructuring in the international community, and that the United States has made clear its policy on China.So South Korea can only act and make judgments within the basic policy framework of the United States.He pointed out that the two countries are geographically closer, and the Korean side is committed to properly addressing the inevitable problems between the two countries andining bilateral relations.

On the same day that Li departed for the United States on May 24, the South Korean special mission visited China and handed over to Li's personal letter.The move reflects Li's willingness to properly manage Korean-China relations while prioritizing the Korean-American alliance.

On Aug. 24, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with South Korean presidential envoy Park Byung-suk in Beijing, according to Xinhua News Agency. "Today is the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, and the relationship between the two countries is in an important period of improvement and development," Wang Yi said. "China always attaches great importance to China-South Korea relations."

Zhan Debin analyzed that Li Zaiming sent a special envoy to China at the same time as his visit to the United States in order to balance Sino-US relations. However, judging from the content of Lee Jae-myung's speech in the United States, he still puts the ROK-US alliance in the first place, and the relationship with China is in a relatively secondary position.

¡°Hong Kong-U.S. relations will not necessarily go to the point of promoting values diplomacy during the Yinxiang government.¡±Jendbin added that Lee told an accompanying reporter on Monday that it was difficult to accept the ¡°strategic flexibility¡± of the U.S. military in South Korea and that he would not interfere in the Taiwan Sea, so he might be following the United States on the basis of ensuring such a bottom line.

After taking office, Lee Jae-myung emphasized "pragmatic" diplomacy, saying that he would expand South Korea's diplomatic field and achieve diversified development, and promote regional strategy and global South cooperation. He proposed to develop relations with China, the United States, Japan and Russia based on the principle of South Korea's national interests and practicality. However, under the background of the Sino-US game and the fierce confrontation between the progressive and conservative camps in South Korea, some analysts believe that it is difficult for the Lee Jae-myung government to make a big breakthrough in its China policy.

Trump has doubts about Korean relations.

Trump and Lee Jae-myung also talked about US-South Korea-Japan relations during the meeting. Lee Jae-myung said that the cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan is very important. In order to promote the development of South Korea-US relations, South Korea-Japan relations should also be improved to a certain extent.

Trump said that the U.S. side will develop U.S. oil and gas resources in Alaska together with South Korea, but there are historical issues between South Korea and South Korea, and he has doubts that it will be difficult for South Korea to deal with. Li said that, given that Trump attaches great importance to South Korea-US cooperation, he visited Japan before the summit of the United States before dealing with Trump¡¯s concerns.

Before his visit to the United States, Lee Jae-myung first visited Japan on the 23rd and held a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Shigeru Ishiba entertained Korean guests with a special "Shiba curry", while Lee Jae-myung prepared stewed chicken and soju from his hometown Andong.

Li Ziming visits Japan and meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba

Lee Jae-ming's visit to Japan is considered to break the practice of giving priority to visits to the United States after South Korean presidents take office. The Associated Press believes that both Japan and South Korea are currently facing pressure from the United States on issues such as trade and defense. Lee Jae-ming's visit to Japan before visiting the United States will help him better prepare for talks with Trump.

According to Korean media reports, during the Korean-Japanese summit meeting, the two sides spent a lot of time discussing the issue of U.S. negotiations. Wei Sanlo said at the press conference that the Korean-Japanese small-scale talks were mainly Japanese introduction to U.S. diplomatic experience, communicated in the form of "reference opinions", these opinions have a very reference value.

After the Japan-ROK summit, the two sides agreed to stabilize and significantly develop bilateral relations, and also confirmed that they will strengthen cooperation with the United States on the basis of Japan and South Korea to achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea, and promote close cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States.

According to Xinhua News Agency, analysts believe that Li Zaiming, who has taken a tough stance on Japan-related issues, has both internal factors behind breaking the convention from the leader of the opposition party to the national leader, and the diplomatic need to work with Japan to deal with the pressure of the United States on tariffs and security issues. But in the long run, the historical issues between Japan and South Korea are difficult to be fundamentally resolved, and will continue to affect the relationship between the two countries for a long time in the future.