Will Moon and Trump hold a summit soon?

Posted on : 2017-05-12 14:40 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
In first summit, two leaders likely to discuss THAAD, defense cost-sharing, free trade and North Korea issue
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has his first phone conversation with US President Donald Trump
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has his first phone conversation with US President Donald Trump

Amid indications that South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump will be soon holding a summit, the next questions are when the summit meeting will be held and what the two leaders will discuss.

An early summit between Moon and Trump began to take shape during a phone call between the two leaders on the evening of May 10. After Trump extended an official invitation, Moon responded by saying he hoped to visit Washington as soon as possible so that the two leaders could have an honest exchange of ideas. Trump added that he also wanted a summit to be held soon.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is treating the remarks over the phone as instructions and has started preparing for deliberations with the US to schedule the summit. “Since the two leaders mentioned holding the summit soon, we figured we should preparing for that right now. May isn’t feasible, so it will probably be held in June,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official on May 11.

The position of the Ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau has been that a summit with the US should be held as soon as possible after the new South Korean president is inaugurated. But others have been more cautious, arguing that the Moon administration should first develop a foreign policy framework that covers THAAD, defense cost-sharing, the free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) and North Korea and its nuclear program to prepare to negotiate with Trump, given his reputation for making a hard sell.

Moon’s election camp reportedly considered having a summit in September, given several considerations. “There was no question that the US is the first country to hold a summit with. Our idea was that September would be a good time for the summit,” Kim Gi-jeong, a member of Moon’s camp and the director of the School of Public Administration at Yonsei University, told the Hankyoreh on May 11. The plan under consideration, Kim said, was for Moon to have his first encounter with Trump during the G-20 summit, which will be held in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7-8, and then to visit Washington around the UN General Assembly in September for a summit.

“The situation became more urgent, with rumors appearing about a crisis on the Korean Peninsula and with Trump asking us to pay $1 billion [for THAAD], and Trump [as a former businessperson] tends to like getting things over with. I think that June would also be fine,” Kim said.

Lee Myung-bak (in office 2008-13) was the previous president who was in the biggest hurry to hold a summit with the US. In Apr. 2008, just one and a half months after his inauguration, Lee boarded a plane bound for the US. Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun (2003-08) and Park Geun-hye (2013-16) each visited the US to meet the American president two and a half months after taking office, in May 2003 and May 2013, respectively.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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