Seoul Balances Acts: Trump Deal, Xi Summit, and NK Rejection

South Korea’s leadership is juggling complex international relations, securing a trade deal with the U.S., hosting a major summit with China, and facing a harsh rejection from North Korea, all in the span of one week.
President Lee Jae Myung hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, where he urged Beijing to help restart dialogue with North Korea. This summit followed a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump, where a “surprise breakthrough” was announced to lower U.S. tariffs in return for billions in South Korean investment.
Lee’s diplomatic outreach to the North, based on a phased denuclearisation plan, was met with contempt. Pyongyang issued a statement calling the agenda an “unrealisable pipe dream” and vowing never to talk to the South.
During the summit with Xi, Lee had to balance his U.S. alliance with his economic reliance on China. He raised issues like Chinese sanctions on U.S.-linked units of a South Korean firm and the 2017 THAAD missile system dispute.
Xi, in turn, called South Korea an “inseparable partner” and signed seven economic agreements. However, Chinese state media reports on the meeting omitted the North Korea issue, focusing instead on multilateralism and new areas of cooperation like AI.