NEW YORK — President Lee Jae-myung, in the United States to attend the U.N. General Assembly, held a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 22nd. The meeting, which had been in doubt, came together at the last minute as talks on strategic investment in the United States made progress. At the summit, Lee signaled a willingness to raise defense spending and strengthen South Korea's independent defense capabilities, seeking progress on stalled security issues between the allies, including nuclear-powered submarines and the transfer of wartime operational control.
It was the third summit between the two leaders, following meetings in Washington last August and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju in October.
A senior official at the Presidential Office told reporters at a press center in New York that Lee "reaffirmed his willingness to increase defense spending or take on greater responsibility for the defense of the Korean Peninsula in order to strengthen independent defense capabilities." The official added that Lee "conveyed the view that, as an extension of that, he would like to see discussions on nuclear submarines accelerate."
Wi Sung-lac, director of the Presidential Office's National Security Office, said the two sides "confirmed a joint will to further deepen cooperation in areas such as fuel for nuclear submarines, enrichment and reprocessing, shipbuilding cooperation and the transfer of wartime operational control, and agreed to hold follow-up talks."
When the two countries agreed last year on $200 billion in investment in the United States, they also discussed the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines and expanded rights to enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear fuel. Unlike the investment package, security talks had moved slowly, but the latest summit is expected to speed up follow-up discussions.
Wi also said Trump "reaffirmed his willingness to hold talks with North Korea, and the two leaders agreed to stay in communication so that they can establish sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula as a peacemaker and a pacemaker." The Presidential Office said, however, that there was no mention of whether specific contacts were being exchanged between Washington and Pyongyang.
In his keynote address to the U.N. General Assembly the same day, Lee directly cited the United States and China, along with the two Koreas, as parties involved in discussions on a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. On instability in energy supply chains stemming from developments in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, he proposed a "coalition of constructive contributors."
