South Korean leader Lee at White House for talks after Trump blasts the US ally

WASHINGTON/SEOUL - South Korea’s new President, Lee Jae Myung, arrived at the White House on Aug 25 for talks hours after US President Donald Trump criticised Seoul and as conflict over defence spending and trade tests the two countries’ decades-old alliance.

The leaders were gearing up for their first summit when Mr Trump criticised the South Korean government over its handling of investigations related to his conservative predecessor’s December attempt to impose martial law.

The remarks cast a dark mood over high-stakes talks for Mr Lee, who took office in June following a snap election that followed Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment and removal.

South Korea’s economy relies heavily on the US,

with Washington underwriting its security with troops and nuclear deterrence. Mr Trump has called Seoul a “money machine” that takes advantage of American military protection.

Mr Lee wants to chart a balanced path of cooperation with the US, while avoiding antagonising South Korea's top trade partner, China.

Mr Trump’s complaint aligns with those lodged by Korea’s far-right movement, especially evangelical Christians and supporters of Yoon, who is on trial on charges of inciting an insurrection.

Those Yoon supporters see the ex-president as the subject of communist persecution and have leveled unsubstantiated claims of election tampering in the vote that brought Mr Lee to power in June.

Mr Trump told reporters he had heard troubling reports of investigations targeting churches and a military base, and that he would be raising the matter with Mr Lee. “I don’t know if it’s true or not,” he said. “I’ll be finding out.”

Earlier this month, Seoul police raided Sarang Jeil Church, headed by evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon, who led protests in support of Yoon, according to local reports. The police were investigating pro-Yoon activists who stormed a court in late January after it extended Yoon’s detention.

In July, prosecutors investigating Yoon’s actions served a search warrant on the Korean part of a military base jointly operated with the United States. South Korean officials have said that US troops and materials were not subject to the search and said that “false claims” that their raid required prior consultations with US troops hurt the alliance and interfered with their investigation.

“Regardless of how this specific incident plays out, Mr Trump has nicely illustrated how unreliable and capricious he is for allies,” said Mason Richey, professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University.

Complex negotiations

The two countries are engaged in lower-level negotiations over trade, nuclear power, and military spending. Several top officials, including the foreign minister, rushed to Washington over the weekend to try to iron out final details.

Mr Lee’s goal coming into the meeting has been to make a good impression, connect personally with Mr Trump, and above all, avoid any unpleasant surprises, analysts said.

As part of his preparations for the summit, Mr Lee told reporters during his flight to Washington that he had read Trump: The Art Of The Deal, the president’s 1987 memoir.

South Korean negotiators secured a last-minute deal in July to avoid the harshest of new US tariffs, but they must still hammer out details of US$350 billion (S$449.5 billion) in promised investments in the United States.

Mr Lee, who arrived in Washington on Aug 24, will highlight some of South Korea's expected investments when he visits a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by the country's Hanwha Group after the summit. Cooperation to help the ailing US shipbuilding sector is part of the broad agreement reached between the countries.

Engaging North Korea 

Mr Trump is expected to pressure Mr Lee to commit to more spending on defence, including potentially billions of dollars more toward the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea.

Mr Wi Sung-lac, Mr Lee’s top security adviser, said South Korea was in talks with Washington over defense spending and looking into a plan for the purchase of American weapons. 

While focusing on increasing military spending, Mr Lee will likely seek to avoid conversations about a potential reduction of US troops or details on modernising the alliance, said Duyeon Kim, from the Center for a New American Security.

Mr Lee told reporters it would be difficult for Seoul to accept the demand by the US to adopt “flexibility” in operating the US military stationed in South Korea, a reference to the touchy issue of using the US military for a wider range of operations, including China-related threats.

“They should leave those topics for working-level officials to hash out,” Mr Kim said. “Ambition could backfire.”

As he headed to the US, Mr Lee sent a special delegation to Beijing, which delivered a message calling for normalised relations with China that have been strained in recent years.

Mr Trump and Mr Lee may also discuss efforts to persuade North Korea to freeze and eventually abandon its nuclear weapons programme. Both leaders support engaging Pyongyang, and Mr Lee has called for a phased approach to denuclearisation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says South Korea and the US remain hostile to his country, and he will never give up his nuclear arsenal. Over the weekend, Kim supervised the test firing of new air defence systems. REUTERS