Korean President Lee Jae Myung arrives in U.S. for summit with Trump

President Lee Jae Myung, left, and first lady Kim Hea Kyung, second from left, are greeted by U.S. officials as they arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 24 from Tokyo to begin a three-day trip to the United States for a bilateral summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
WASHINGTON — Korean President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon for a three-day trip to the United States to hold a highly anticipated first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to discuss security, trade and the direction of the alliance.  
 
Lee, accompanied by first lady Kim Hea Kyung, landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on presidential jet, to begin the second leg of their six-day, two-country tour. They earlier wrapped a two-day trip to Tokyo for a bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba focused on building future-oriented relations.  
 

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Lee and Trump are set to hold their first summit at the White House on Monday to discuss ways to stabilize the economy and trade, modernize the bilateral alliance and explore cooperation in new horizons such as nuclear energy, shipbuilding, artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.  
 
A modernization of the alliance could include Washington’s demands for Seoul to increase defense spending and redefine the role of the U.S. troops in Korea through “strategic flexibility” amid heightened U.S.-China rivalry. There is also interest in whether the two sides will agree to expand cooperation in the nuclear energy sector through revisions to a civil nuclear energy agreement, or if Washington pressures to open Korea’s beef and rice markets.  
 
The summit came to fruition after Seoul and Washington agreed on a trade deal at the end of July that set tariffs on Korean exports to the United States at 15 percent, lower than the expected 25 percent. Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States, which includes a $150 billion shipbuilding cooperation initiative dubbed the "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" (MASGA) project. However, this U.S. visit will be an occasion to iron out the more minute details.  
 
How Lee navigates his first summit with Trump could be a crucial moment both testing his diplomatic prowess, and also have greater repercussions on how he governs in the early stage of his administration depending on the results.  
 

President Lee Jae Myung, left, and first lady Kim Hea Kyung, arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 24 from Tokyo to begin a three-day trip to the United States for a bilateral summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

On Sunday evening, Lee will meet with the Korean diaspora in Washington.  
 
On Monday, Lee will hold the bilateral summit with Trump at the White House, followed by a luncheon meeting.  
 
Lee will later attend a Korea-U.S. business roundtable. The president was accompanied by a business delegation including the leaders of top Korean conglomerates including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.  
 
Lee will also deliver a policy speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank and attend a dinner meeting with opinion leaders from both countries to hear their views on advancing the alliance.  
 
On Tuesday, Lee will visit Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and then travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he is expected to visit Hanwha Philly Shipyard, owned by Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.
 
Lee is expected to return to Seoul early Thursday.  
 

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]