The summit between President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly ran for 30 minutes, 20 minutes longer than the 10 minutes originally scheduled. Trump delayed his scheduled speech to continue talking with Lee and also instructed his staff to arrange a schedule for a future golf meeting.
According to the Presidential Office on the 27th, the Korea-U.S. summit took place on the 23rd during a reception hosted by Trump. The two sides had arranged in advance to hold the talks starting at 7:20 p.m., 20 minutes after the reception began.
The meeting was initially allotted 10 minutes, because Trump was scheduled to address the leaders attending the reception from 7:30 p.m. But as the conversation between the two leaders continued after the talks began, the end time was naturally pushed back.
A U.S. protocol official signaled that the meeting should wrap up given the scheduled speech time, but Trump said in effect that "we should keep talking" and continued the conversation, according to officials. The Korea-U.S. summit ran for about 30 minutes as a result, and Trump's speech began at 8 p.m., about 30 minutes later than originally planned.
Trump also signaled his intention to pursue a separate golf meeting with Lee. During the talks, he instructed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to "set up a schedule" for a golf outing between the two leaders. Attention is now on whether a round of golf between the two will materialize on the occasion of the Group of 20 summit to be held in Miami in December.
The Presidential Office said there were also gestures of consideration toward the Korean side at the event for the leaders' spouses. Melania Trump arrived about 30 minutes before the start of the "Fostering the Future Together" coalition event she hosted and had intended to take commemorative photos with attendees, but waited after confirming that first lady Kim Hye-kyung had not yet arrived. When Kim arrived at the start of the event, Melania noted in effect that Korea was the first partner to join the coalition and an important and valued partner, then took a commemorative photo with Kim.
