US President Donald Trump will have bilateral meetings with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea next week, the White House said Thursday, as he plans to visit the Asian country on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump plans to have talks with Lee on Wednesday, and meet Xi the following day, as she officially announced the plan for Trump’s Asia trip that will also take him to Malaysia and Japan.
Leavitt’s announcement indicated that the Lee-Trump meeting will take place in the southeastern port city of Busan, but Korean government sources said that it will be held in Gyeongju, the APEC venue where Korea will host the multilateral gathering on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
Following the planned talks with Lee on Wednesday, Trump plans to deliver keynote remarks at the APEC CEO luncheon and then participate in a US-APEC leaders’ working dinner, Leavitt said.
In what will be their second in-person meeting, Lee and Trump are expected to discuss an array of pending bilateral and regional issues, including trade, security and diplomacy with North Korea.
The meeting will follow rounds of intensive trade negotiations between Seoul and Washington aimed at bridging differences over how to implement South Korea’s $350 billion investment pledge under a bilateral framework trade deal struck in July.
Lee and Trump held their first summit at the White House in August.
The upcoming summit between Trump and Xi has drawn international attention as the leaders are expected to seek a trade deal following a renewed escalation of tension over Beijing’s tightened export controls on rare earth products and Trump’s threat to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
Trump’s planned visit to Korea has raised speculation that he could seek to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as the White House has said that he remains open to talks with the reclusive leader “without any preconditions.”
In a recent CNN interview, Lee reiterated his hope that Trump would serve as a “peacemaker” during his trip to Asia, as the Seoul government seeks to resume inter-Korean engagement to reduce tensions and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump held three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term — the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.
For the forthcoming Asia trip, Trump will depart Washington for Malaysia on Friday night. He is set to arrive in the Southeast Asian country on Sunday morning.
There, he plans to have a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders’ working dinner.
Trump will then travel to Japan on Monday morning for a three-day visit. He plans to have a meeting with new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. He will arrive in Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan on Wednesday morning to begin his two-day visit to the country. (Yonhap)
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