President Lee Jae-myung returned to Seoul through Seoul Airport on the 27th after a seven-day, five-night trip to the United States and Mexico. During the trip, Lee put security talks with Washington back on track while broadening the framework for cooperation with Mexico, a key Latin American partner, on supply chains, defense and advanced industries. After dramatically securing a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump that had looked uncertain, Lee went on to conclude a revision of an investment protection treaty that had been stalled for seven years during the first state visit to Mexico by a South Korean president in 16 years.
Wearing a black suit and a light brown tie, Lee was greeted on arrival at Seoul Airport by Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung, Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs Hong Ihk-pyo, Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jin-a, and the commander of the Air Force's 15th Special Mission Wing. Lee drew attention by leaning back and laughing heartily as he shook hands with Kim Min-seok during the party leader's welcoming remarks.
During the U.S. leg, Lee held his third summit with Trump since taking office. Based on the joint fact sheet agreed at their meeting in November of last year, the two confirmed their intent to deepen cooperation on fuel for nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment and reprocessing, shipbuilding cooperation and the transfer of wartime operational control.
Lee then became the first South Korean president in 16 years to make a state visit to Mexico, holding a summit that strengthened the institutional foundation for expanded economic cooperation and improved conditions for Korean companies entering the market. The summit produced a package agreement revising the Korea-Mexico investment protection treaty, negotiations on which began in 2019 and had been deadlocked for seven years. The revised treaty strengthens investor protections, including the recovery of investment funds and compensation for losses, and guarantees the transfer of investment funds even in the event of a foreign exchange crisis.
Now back from those diplomatic engagements, Lee faces a pile of domestic issues. He is expected to take time deciding whether to accept the resignation offered by Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik just before departure, and whom to name to succeed former Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom, whose post remains vacant. He must also consider replacements following the failed nominations of Kim Seung-won as justice minister and Yong Hye-in as minister of gender equality and family.
Also drawing attention is whether Lee will appoint Kim Ji-yong as head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, a nomination that has run into resistance within the broader ruling bloc ahead of the agency's launch alongside the Public Prosecution Agency on the 2nd of next month. Kim Ji-yong called a news conference on the 18th in an effort to paper over divisions within the ruling camp, but appointing him would inevitably provoke a backlash from prosecution hard-liners in the ruling bloc. The spread of the standoff between the presidential office and the judiciary into a partisan fight, after Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de rejected a request to renominate a candidate for the Supreme Court, is also a considerable burden.
The government also needs to conduct a swift and accurate investigation into a recent explosion in the Demilitarized Zone believed to have been caused by a landmine, both to blunt opposition attacks and to prevent suspicions from taking root.
Separately, Lee held an impromptu tea session with the traveling press corps on the 26th local time in Anchorage, Alaska, a stopover on his return home. Lee has previously shared the results of overseas trips with reporters, holding an in-flight briefing on the way back from the Group of Seven summit in June of last year. In June, he also personally explained the outcome of the G7 summit at the presidential office's press building.
