Trump, South Korea’s Lee stress common ground in White House meeting

US President Donald Trump struck a cordial tone in his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Monday, despite making remarks hours earlier that threatened to undermine talks, and said he hoped to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year.

“It’s an honour to be with President Lee of South Korea. We’ve known each other and gotten along very well,” Trump said at the Oval Office, adding that he felt “very warmly” about the country.

Highlighting the US’s need for South Korean shipbuilding and South Korea’s need for US energy and military equipment, he said “we’re going to get along great because we really sort of need each other”.

Lee, striking a laudatory tone, echoed Trump, touting a “renaissance” in America’s shipbuilding and manufacturing sectors and saying that he hoped South Korea could be a part of it.

Then, hailing the US’s role as a “maker of peace”, Lee asked Trump to help establish peace on the Korean peninsula.

“I look forward to your meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un and the construction of a Trump Tower in North Korea,” Lee said.

Trump, in response, affirmed his “very good relationship” with Kim and his desire to connect with the North Korean leader. “I’d like to meet him this year,” he said.