When summit optics meet real-world stakes

In August, President Lee Jae Myung made his Washington debut, stepping onto the summit stage with U.S. President Donald Trump amid high expectations and the nail-biting, palpable uncertainties of a high-stakes encounter. Tensions were already visible in the days — hours, even — before the Oval Office handshake. Lee, on his flight from Tokyo following a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, told reporters that Washington’s push for “strategic flexibility” of the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea (USFK) was “not an issue we can easily deal with,” adding that “discussions on a future-oriented strategic transformation of USFK are necessary from Seoul’s perspective.” By the next day, the drama intensified when Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, questioning the state of affairs in South Korea and referencing alleged domestic upheavals. The White House theatrics underscored the unpredictable environment Lee was entering: a summit stage framed by optics and ceremony, but shadowed by real policy friction, alliance modernization debates and theWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times