President Donald Trump had the new left-wing President Lee Jae-Myung in South Korea, after his social post a few hours before he met at the end of August.
This is what Trump wrote:
“What is happening in South Korea? Seems a purification or revolution. We can’t have that and doing business there. I see the new president in the White House today. Thank you for your attention for this issue !!!”
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Trump referred to the aggressive efforts of the Lee government to punish former President Yoon Suk Yeol and intimidate conservative opponents, including religious groups. A South Korean research attack on the jointly operated Osan air base was also in mind.
The South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung, center, waves the national flag and cheers during the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea of the Japanese colonial rule in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, August 15, 2025. (AP)
But then Trump went off.
Later, in a benign joint press conference with Lee, Trump said that it might have just been a “misunderstanding” or “rumor”.
Perhaps the $ 350 billion in the South Korean investments in the US and buying another $ 100 billion of the American energy that corresponded loosely in July had something to do with it.
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But Trump spread a golden opportunity to strengthen the PRO-VS constituency in South Korea and to inform Lee.
Lee probably couldn’t believe his happiness. He had avoided the treatment with Zenskyy – a rug in the White House – and could go home and said the Americans approved him and his administration. And this despite accusations of election fraud and Lee’s harsh treatment of opponents and the apparent Pro-Noorda, Pro-China and Anti-American tendencies from Lee and certain of his officials.
Lee could even claim that he tamed Donald Trump.
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Has he answered Trump’s reluctance?
Hardly.
South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung speaks during a ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea of the Japanese colonial rule in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, August 15, 2025. (AP)
He stepped on the gas – and it doesn’t seem to care if Washington notes.
Lee still focuses on religious organizations and arrests pro-conservative religious leaders.
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He continues to imprison the former president under harsh conditions and has arrested and imprisoned Yoon’s wife.
He is difficult for opposition parties – including police intimidation of citizens, in particular those who promote election integrity.
Lee probably couldn’t believe his happiness. He had avoided the treatment with Zenskyy – a rug in the White House – and could go home and said the Americans approved him and his administration.
And with regard to the American military alliance of Korea, of which Lee said it was so important shortly after his arrival-lee recently posted on social media:
“What is important is to reject the submissive mentality that national self -reliant defense is impossible without foreign troops.”
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In other words … South Korea would be better off without our troops in the neighborhood.
Lee had to know how it would be interpreted. Not least because he is already admitted to call American troops ‘an occupancy force’.
And his administration pulls against anti-China protests while allows anti-American protesters to harm photos of Trump while protesting for the American embassy.
Lee has also just reversed the promise to invest $ 350 billion in the US – and says it will destroy the South Korean economy.
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Why did the Trump administration recall Lee’s AntiDemocratic behavior instead?
Maybe lobbyists got someone close to Trump? Perhaps he followed our embassy Seoul or advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
But Trump spread a golden opportunity to strengthen the PRO-VS constituency in South Korea and to inform Lee.
The American Embassy Seoul sometimes pretends to be the preferred -Zuid -Korean government.
And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs usually wants to deal with the government in power – and try to drive rough patches.
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In the case of South Korea, it is thought that the fundamental relationship is solid – forged in blood of the Korean war. And all lefts are just a noisy minority that is little danger.
And anyway, if Lee exceeds a poorly defined line, Washington will act.
Now-former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, third from the left, controls the USS Theodore Roosevelt flying vessel on the South Korean naval base in Busan, South Korea, Tuesday 25 June 2024. (South Korean Presidential Office/Yonhap via AP)
The problem is that Washington never does that.
There is always a reason not to act. It is too busy with other things, it is provocative and will just make it worse.
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With South Korea there is too much attention for the military-to-military ties and the bilateral economic relationship. These are strong. But that doesn’t matter, because hardcore radicals try to undermine the relationship and grasp the total power and to switch South Korea away from the US and to China and Noord -Korea.
Most Koreans do not want this, but ruthless radicals have moved a democratic, pro-VS country where most people do not want to go.
Think of Venezuela. Once democratic and America’s strongest ally in Latin -America, but now a dictatorship and the greatest enemy of America.
There is clearer to think in the White House when it comes to South Korea.
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It seems that Lee Jae-Myung pulled a fast President Trump in the White House last month and maybe figures that he can do it again.
If he gets away with it, others will think they can do that too.
Click here to From Grant Newsham
