Quotes of the Day:

"An individual is as superb as a nation when has the qualities which make a superb nation."

– Walt Whitman

"Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm."

– Miyamoto Musashi

"A person's worth is measured by the worth of what he values."

– Marcus Aurelius

1. Why South Korean Reconciliation with North Korea Isn’t an Option

2. South Korean president’s newly adopted centrism may not be enough to woo some conservative critics

3. Trump’s initial warning to South Korea’s Lee turns into warm welcome after flattery

4. China-South Korea ties at ‘a critical juncture’, Wang Yi says amid bid for reset

5. South Korea tells China it wants to normalise ties, upgrade economic relations

6. As South Korea’s Leader Meets With Trump, China Looms Large

7. Trump Administration Live Updates: Meeting With South Korea’s Leader, Trump Praises North Korean Dictator

8. Trump voices hope to meet N.K. leader Kim this year, eyes ownership of U.S. base land in S. Korea

9. Trump eyes 'ownership' of land S. Korea has leased for U.S. military bases

10. Lee offers to be pacemaker as Trump aims for peninsula peace

11. Trump eyes new DMZ meeting with Kim Jong-un

12.  Trump says U.S. to partner with S. Korea, Japan on Alaska energy project

13. Trump says U.S. to buy ships from S. Korea, revive domestic shipbuilding industry

14. Seoul cannot ‘readily agree’ to expand mission of US troops on peninsula: Lee

15. 96 North Korean defectors resettle in South in first half, down from last year

16. Regime briefs grassroots cadres on mass reporting law to tighten social control

17. North Korea’s Glossy New Surface: Apps, Beaches and a Fake Starbucks

1. Why South Korean Reconciliation with North Korea Isn’t an Option

From my friend and colleague from north Korea. I could not agree with Hyun Seung and his analysis more strongly. He is correct that we must deal with KJU based on an understanding of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. 

Excerpts:

True peace cannot be built on sentiment alone. Dialogue is valuable and should never be dismissed out of hand, but it must be anchored in a clear-eyed understanding of the adversary. North Korea has repeatedly demonstrated that it sees engagement as a means to strengthen its military capabilities and prolong its dictatorship. Any strategy that ignores this reality would be deluding itself.

South Korea’s left-leaning optimism rests on the hope that Pyongyang might one day choose cooperation over conflict. This hope has always been a forlorn one. Peace must be underwritten by deterrence, grounded in alliance solidarity, and sustained by an unflinching recognition of North Korea’s true nature.

In an era defined by authoritarian revisionism and great-power rivalry, the stakes could not be higher. The mirage of peace through reconciliation tempts policymakers to trade vigilance for illusion. History, recent and distant, warns us of the cost. For the United States, for South Korea, and for the security of Northeast Asia, the lesson should be unequivocal: reconciliation without deterrence is not peace. It is surrender.

Why South Korean Reconciliation with North Korea Isn’t an Option

The National Interest · Hyun Seung Lee · August 25, 2025

Topic: Security

Blog Brand: Korea Watch

Region: Asia

August 25, 2025

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“Dialogue” is just one of many disguises North Korea employs to keep South Korea in the dark about its true intentions.

With South Korean President Lee Jae-myung set to visit Washington for a summit with President Donald Trump today, the familiar debate over North Korea will again take center stage. Lee is expected to promote the idea that reconciliation with Pyongyang will naturally lead to peace, casting himself as a “peacemaker” in the mold of past liberal leaders. But this optimism is not only naïve—it is dangerous, and it ignores decades of evidence that North Korea exploits “dialogue” as a cover for provocation and survival.

Each time a left-leaning administration rises in Seoul, a familiar refrain sounds. If South Korea simply pursues reconciliation with the North, tensions will ease, and the specter of war will fade. The narrative is enticing, built on the promise of dialogue over confrontation and economic cooperation over deterrence. But it is a dangerous illusion, one that ignores the regime’s unbroken record of duplicity and the strategic logic that underpins its survival.

North Korea has never truly entertained the notion of peaceful coexistence. The regime’s rhetoric remains hostile, its posture belligerent, and its actions consistent with long-term confrontation. Kim Yo-jong, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s sister and one of Pyongyang’s most powerful voices, has in recent weeks dismissed Seoul’s peace overtures as nothing more than “a pipedream.”

She further declared that the North “will never” regard South Korea as a diplomatic partner. These words are not slips of the tongue. They reveal the essence of a state that thrives on hostility, sustains itself through perpetual confrontation, and views reconciliation not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve its objectives.

History underscores the futility of believing that warmer rhetoric or unilateral concessions from Seoul can change this trajectory. The Sunshine Policy, championed in the early 2000s, funneled billions of dollars into North Korea to encourage bilateral engagement. For a time, the optics suggested progress: leaders shook hands, border villages buzzed with cautious optimism, and the Demilitarized Zone felt a brief lull of tension.

Yet, the resources delivered during those years were not invested in the well-being of ordinary North Koreans. Instead, they were diverted to weapons development and luxury goods for the Kim family. The missile tests that followed were not anomalies; they were the fruits of misguided generosity.

What engagement advocates often fail to grasp is that North Korea has always used dialogue tactically. The regime does not intend negotiations to end in a compromise. Rather, they are meant to buy time. Each cycle of talks provides Pyongyang with the breathing room it needs to advance its nuclear and missile programs, reinforce domestic legitimacy, and prepare for the next provocation. South Korea’s gestures of goodwill have consistently been met not with reciprocity but with exploitation.

The greatest danger of such misplaced optimism is that it erodes deterrence. If Seoul reduces joint military exercises with the United States, scales back missile defense investments, or weakens sanctions enforcement, Pyongyang responds with provocations, not gratitude.

The 2018 inter-Korean summits exemplify this dynamic. Amid images of smiling leaders walking across the border, South Korea scaled back its vigilance. Yet within a few years, North Korea had escalated missile testing to record levels, reaffirming its commitment to military supremacy. These are not ad hoc reactions; they are part of a deliberate strategy, one that seeks to capitalize on every fissure in allied resolve.

The risks extend beyond deterrence. Reconciliation narratives also threaten the foundation of the US-ROK alliance. The security architecture of Northeast Asia rests on the premise that Washington and Seoul act in concert. If South Korea prioritizes unilateral engagement with the North at the expense of alliance cohesion, it weakens the credibility of extended deterrence and emboldens adversaries. Today, with Russia and China deepening their coordination with Pyongyang, Seoul cannot afford the luxury of drifting from its most essential ally.

Perhaps most insidiously, the rhetoric of inevitable peace dulls public awareness. If citizens are convinced that reconciliation guarantees safety, vigilance erodes. The reality, however, is that North Korea oscillates between gestures of conciliation and acts of aggression not because it is conflicted, but because both serve its survival depending on the context. Concessions from the South buy resources, and provocations sustain internal control by justifying repression. To believe otherwise is to indulge in self-deception.

True peace cannot be built on sentiment alone. Dialogue is valuable and should never be dismissed out of hand, but it must be anchored in a clear-eyed understanding of the adversary. North Korea has repeatedly demonstrated that it sees engagement as a means to strengthen its military capabilities and prolong its dictatorship. Any strategy that ignores this reality would be deluding itself.

South Korea’s left-leaning optimism rests on the hope that Pyongyang might one day choose cooperation over conflict. This hope has always been a forlorn one. Peace must be underwritten by deterrence, grounded in alliance solidarity, and sustained by an unflinching recognition of North Korea’s true nature.

In an era defined by authoritarian revisionism and great-power rivalry, the stakes could not be higher. The mirage of peace through reconciliation tempts policymakers to trade vigilance for illusion. History, recent and distant, warns us of the cost. For the United States, for South Korea, and for the security of Northeast Asia, the lesson should be unequivocal: reconciliation without deterrence is not peace. It is surrender.

About the Author: Hyun Seung Lee

Hyun Seung Lee is a North Korean escapee and lead strategist at the Global Peace Foundation, with prior experience in North Korea’s shipping and mining sectors and as a sergeant in the DPRK Army Special Force. He defected in 2014 due to severe governmental purges, and he holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics and a Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University.

Image: Alexander Khitrov / Shutterstock.com.

The National Interest · Hyun Seung Lee · August 25, 2025

2. South Korean president’s newly adopted centrism may not be enough to woo some conservative critics

One thing I have learned from Korean colleagues is that there is one trait that high level supporters describe about President Lee. That is that at first a "practical politician" who supposedly is more about practical politics than ideology and he does what he must to get elected and to wield power. I am not in a position to make a sound judgment but that is what some Koreans tell me. His apparent "centrism" may be born out of necessity and practicality. But I do not know.

Excerpts:

On Feb. 18, Mr. Lee strikingly announced that his liberal party must “take the center right” political ground.

If his aim was to reassure middle Korea — which, according to polls, is firmly wedded to the U.S. alliance — he succeeded. With Mr. Yoon impeached, Mr. Lee won the presidential election handily.

The outcome of his summit Saturday shows that Mr. Lee is sticking to his new course.

Behind closed doors, the meeting also granted Mr. Lee the opportunity to “exchange views with Japan, which is facing similar challenges because of Mr. Trump’s demands for tariff pressure and alliance modernization,” Lim Eun-jeong, an international relations professor at Kongju National University, wrote in a vernacular commentary.

Stakes are high in Washington, and Mr. Lee is under a barrage of criticism from high-profile U.S. conservatives who are unconvinced he has ditched his left-wing past and who may have Mr. Trump’s ear.

South Korean president’s newly adopted centrism may not be enough to woo some conservative critics

Uncertainties over trade, security and partisanship precede tensely anticipated White House visit

washingtontimes.com · Andrew Salmon

By - The Washington Times - Sunday, August 24, 2025

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who campaigned as a moderate after a career as a liberal firebrand, had conservative critics on edge at home and in Washington ahead of a summit at the White House on Monday.

Mr. Lee will meet with President Trump after huddling in Tokyo on Saturday with his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Mr. Lee and Mr. Trump have tested Korean nerves. Mr. Trump has not yet assigned an ambassador to Seoul, and domestic supporters and critics skeptical of the lifelong liberal’s untested diplomatic skills are intently watching Mr. Lee’s overdue trip to Washington. An invitation was anticipated last month.

Mr. Lee’s meeting with Mr. Ishiba earned good reviews. The Asian neighbors agreed to expand cooperation in security, trade, tourism and defense against North Korea.

That outcome is doubly surprising given Mr. Lee’s pre-presidential reputation as a Japanophobe who addressed anti-Tokyo rallies. More broadly, he has ditched considerable political baggage from a leftist past in his transition from revolutionary to ruler.

The presidency was up for grabs in June after conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol shook Korea in December by declaring martial law.

Mr. Lee, an opposition leader who had frustrated Mr. Yoon’s governance in the National Assembly, defied commandos to lead lawmakers in a vote overturning martial law, dooming Mr. Yoon.

On Feb. 18, Mr. Lee strikingly announced that his liberal party must “take the center right” political ground.

If his aim was to reassure middle Korea — which, according to polls, is firmly wedded to the U.S. alliance — he succeeded. With Mr. Yoon impeached, Mr. Lee won the presidential election handily.

The outcome of his summit Saturday shows that Mr. Lee is sticking to his new course.

Behind closed doors, the meeting also granted Mr. Lee the opportunity to “exchange views with Japan, which is facing similar challenges because of Mr. Trump’s demands for tariff pressure and alliance modernization,” Lim Eun-jeong, an international relations professor at Kongju National University, wrote in a vernacular commentary.

Stakes are high in Washington, and Mr. Lee is under a barrage of criticism from high-profile U.S. conservatives who are unconvinced he has ditched his left-wing past and who may have Mr. Trump’s ear.

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In the run-up to the summit, Mr. Lee conferred with major South Korean business leaders and deployed his foreign minister to Washington to lay last-minute groundwork.

Detailed questions hover over the $350 billion in South Korean investments that Mr. Trump announced for the U.S. and over South Korea’s role in maintaining or even building U.S. shipping and taking a stake in a mooted LNG pipeline in Alaska.

Even dicier issues are in play in security. Will Mr. Trump demand more cash, “burden sharing,” in return for the security afforded South Korea by the presence of U.S. forces? Will Seoul assume wartime operational command of its troops, a move some think would collapse the potent, U.S.-led Combined Forces Command?

Above all: Will Washington demand regional freedom of maneuver for U.S. forces stationed in strategically sited South Korea, potentially freeing them for China-facing operations?

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While negotiating these issues, Mr. Lee must convince Mr. Trump that his U.S. critics are off base.

They have dredged up a 2021 statement in which he called American GIs an “occupying force,” and they are convinced he wants to dismantle the alliance. They accuse him of being pro-Chinese and pro-North Korea and allege that the June presidential election was fraudulent.

On social media, some U.S. conservatives dub him a communist.

In fact, Mr. Lee has made clear repeatedly that the alliance is the “cornerstone” of his foreign policy. South Korea and the U.S. military are currently conducting joint drills.

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Though he seeks improved relations with Beijing, Mr. Lee has announced no major policy shift toward China. His only North Korea maneuver thus far has been halting propaganda broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone and dismantling related gear.

He expressed hopes of thawing the ties with Pyongyang that froze in 2019, but Mr. Trump did precisely that in his first term.

Mr. Lee’s Cabinet looks balanced. Although his intelligence chief and unification minister are seen as pro-Pyongyang, his national security adviser and foreign minister are considered centrists.

Koreans remain onside. The most recent Gallup poll, released Friday, gave the president approval ratings of 56%, a higher rate than Mr. Yoon achieved and above Mr. Lee’s share of the national vote in June.

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He won that with 49.42%, which aligned with preelection opinion polling.

Though anti-Lee protesters rallied Saturday in central Seoul, South Korea’s mainstream commentariat — its professional media, judiciary, academia and even the conservative People Power Party — all accepted the election results.

Mr. Lee’s U.S. critics are now facing pushback.

In July, Korean activists filed a defamation lawsuit against U.S. academic Morse Tan. Mr. Tan has sought to visit the imprisoned Mr. Yoon, vocally promoted the idea of a “stolen” election and raised criminal allegations against Mr. Lee.

Mr. Tan was ambassador at large for global criminal justice in Mr. Trump’s first administration.

Last week, the South Korean Embassy in Washington responded to conservative author and China hawk Gordon Chang’s anti-Lee column in The Hill.

“Lee is virulently anti-American,” wrote Mr. Chang, who similarly criticized the liberal President Moon Jae-in. “At stake, therefore, is the future of the treaty relationship between Washington and Seoul.”

The embassy called the article “inaccurate and misleading” and said it was spreading “baseless accusations.”

In jittery Seoul, the exchange received attention from mainstream media, but U.S. analysts say Mr. Trump may be unmoved by criticism of Mr. Lee.

“The American conservatives most against Lee have a connection — familial, professional or otherwise — to the peninsula and to the alliance,” said Rob York, regional affairs director at Pacific Forum. “That does not sound like Trump’s inner circle to me.”

“Lee has been briefed up and knows what to say to Trump,” said Daniel Pinkston, who teaches international relations at Troy University.

He said Mr. Lee can learn from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s example: “Zelenskyy got it.”

However, risk remains. “A bad meeting will validate those in Lee’s party with less attachment to the alliance,” Mr. York said.

Going too far?

Mr. Lee is showing two faces domestically.

Unlike Mr. Yoon, he has met with the opposition and paid all adults vouchers worth $108 or more last month to bolster domestic consumption.

In South Korea’s unforgiving political culture, former presidents customarily face judicial punishment. Even by those standards, the campaign against Mr. Yoon and his wife — both of whom are detained, a first in South Korean judicial history — is unusually fierce.

With some prosecutors convinced that Mr. Yoon sought to bolster martial law by generating tensions with the North, military commands have been investigated, including the joint South Korea-U.S. air base at Osan.

Last month, prosecutors raided Osan in search of data on an alleged South Korean drone intrusion over Pyongyang.

Amid multiple raids on military posts, churches and the main opposition party, the Osan raid — reportedly on a Korean sector of the base, with no U.S. personnel encountered — generated little local news.

Even so, some South Korean conservative media fret that the raid breached alliance protocols, and a civic group accused prosecutors of abusing their power.

Mr. Lee holds the legislature and the executive branches of the South Korean government, and some fear he may be seeking to control the judiciary.

Investigations have been opened into churches that prosecutors think may have colluded with Mr. Yoon or bribed his wife.

However, an initiative to expand the Supreme Court’s bench is on hold. The plan was to fill the court with judges sympathetic to Mr. Lee, who faces multiple criminal allegations and is likely to face a massive legal attack if a conservative administration returns to power.

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2025 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

washingtontimes.com · Andrew Salmon

3. Trump’s initial warning to South Korea’s Lee turns into warm welcome after flattery

This is the first report I have found. I hope it is not like the adage that the first report is always wrong. Seung Min Kim is a credible reporter working for the AP so I trust her.

President Lee is a "practical" politician who could "read the room."

Trump’s initial warning to South Korea’s Lee turns into warm welcome after flattery

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/trade-and-defense-on-the-agenda-as-president-donald-trump-hosts-south-koreas-lee-jae-myung/

Aug. 25, 2025 at 6:25 am Updated Aug. 25, 2025 at 11:46 am

President Donald Trump, right, meets with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

1 of 3 | President Donald Trump, right, meets with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Seung-Min Kim

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took to social media before meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday to threaten not to do business with Seoul because of a “Purge or Revolution” that he claimed was taking place in the country.

But any prospect of a hostile Oval Office meeting evaporated after Lee heaped praise onto the U.S. president — lauding the decor, beseeching Trump to continue to help with Korean peace efforts and even suggesting a Trump Tower in North Korea.

“We’ve known each other and gotten along very well,” Trump said. After running down the agenda for the summit, Trump added: “It’s a great honor to be with you and congratulations on your election. That was a big one, and we’re with you 100%.”

The cordial display showed how world leaders are taking notes from previous meetings between Trump and heads of state, who’ve largely chosen the route of praise and adulation rather than confrontation as they seek favorable trade terms and continued military aid from Washington. It was one of the first big foreign policy tests for Lee, who took over a country in a state of political turmoil since its former leader, Yoon Suk Yeol, was ousted from office after imposing martial law.

Lee, elected in June, began by praising one of Trump’s pet projects: presidential interior design.

“I heard that you recently redecorated the Oval Office, and I would like to say that it looks very bright and beautiful,” Lee said through an interpreter. “It has the dignity of America, and it symbolizes the new future and prosperity of America.”

He noted that the Dow Jones index has reached record highs (although Lee made sure to add the caveat that “it went down a bit”) and asked Trump, who has been on a mission to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, to reunify the two Koreas and even perhaps see the construction of a Trump Tower in North Korea accompanied by a round of golf. Lee also agreed with Trump’s assertion that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would not have continued to enhance his nuclear capabilities the last few years had Trump remained in office.

Noting a “renaissance” that is taking place, Lee said “I believe you are the only leader who has made such accomplishments.”

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The tone was a far cry from Trump’s confrontational social media post earlier Monday. He later elaborated that he was referring to raids on churches and on a U.S. military base by the new South Korean government, which they “probably shouldn’t have done.”

“I heard bad things,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday morning. “I don’t know if it’s true or not. I’ll be finding out.”

Trump did not identify specific raids. But earlier this month, South Korean police conducted a raid on a church led by a conservative activist pastor who authorities allege is connected to a pro-Yoon protest in January that turned violent, according to Yonhap news agency. A special prosecutor’s team that is investigating corruption allegations against Yoon’s wife , former first lady Kim Keon Hee, also raided the facilities of the Unification Church after allegations that one of its officials gave Kim luxury goods.

Meanwhile, Osan Air Base, which is jointly operated by the United States and South Korea, was also the target of a raid last month by investigators looking into how Yoon’s activation of martial law transpired, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. South Korean officials have insisted the raid was in the areas controlled by Seoul.

Asked about his assertions by a reporter in front of Lee, Trump declined to confront the South Korean president and instead said the two will discuss it later.

“It didn’t sound to me like South Korea,” Trump said.

Lee explained that the special prosecutor was tapped by the country’s National Assembly to investigate the actions of Yoon, who Lee said staged a “self-coup.”

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At that point, Trump interjected, “Is his name Deranged Jack Smith, by any chance?” He was referring to the special prosecutor who led two criminal cases against Trump before the Republican president was reelected to a second term.

Yoon, who was elected to a five-year term in 2022, was considered more ideologically aligned with Trump and had even taken up golfing again after the U.S. president was reelected last November to try to forge a bond with him. Lee led the South Korean parliament’s efforts to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree while impeaching him. The nation’s Constitutional Court formally dismissed Yoon in April.

The first in-person meeting between Trump and Lee could further flesh out details of a July trade deal between the two countries that has Seoul investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. The agreement set tariffs on South Korean goods at 15% after Trump threatened rates as high as 25%.

Seoul has one of the largest trade surpluses among Washington’s NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, and countries where the U.S. holds a trade deficit has drawn particular ire from Trump, who wants to eliminate such trade imbalances.

Trump also said Monday that he’d like to scrap the U.S. lease with South Korea that covers Osan Air Base and instead get ownership of the land.

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Ahead of his visit to Washington, Lee traveled to Tokyo for his first bilateral visit as president in a hugely symbolic trip for the two nations that hold longstanding historical wounds. The summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was interpreted by analysts as a way to show unity and potential leverage as Japan and South Korea face new challenges from the Trump administration.

Elected in June, Lee was a former child laborer with an arm deformity who rose his way through South Korea’s political ranks to lead the liberal Democratic Party and win the presidency after multiple attempts.

Lee faced an assassination attempt in January 2024, when he was stabbed in the neck by a man saying he wanted Lee’s autograph and later told investigators that he intended to kill the politician.

Lee arrived in the U.S. on Sunday and will leave Tuesday. He headlined a dinner Sunday evening with roughly 200 local Korean Americans in downtown Washington on Sunday night.

___

Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Seung-Min Kim.

4. China-South Korea ties at ‘a critical juncture’, Wang Yi says amid bid for reset

Excerpts:

“Since the new South Korean government took office, China-South Korea relations have achieved a good start,” the Chinese ambassador to Seoul, Dai Bing, tweeted on Sunday.

South Korea announced this month that it would offer visa-free entry to tourist groups from China from September 29 until June next year.

Lee spoke with Xi in a call in June, and Lee was reportedly invited to attend China’s military parade in Tiananmen Square on September 3 marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Wang also mentioned the military parade during the meeting with Lee’s envoys, calling on South Korea to “jointly safeguard the outcomes of the victory of World War II and international fairness and justice”.

“China and South Korea should also work together to uphold the international system of free trade [and] jointly oppose trade protectionism,” he said.

Lee has reportedly decided not to attend the parade next week but will send a delegation of lawmakers led by National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.

China-South Korea relations

ChinaDiplomacy

China-South Korea ties at ‘a critical juncture’, Wang Yi says amid bid for reset

High-powered delegation from Seoul meets China’s foreign minister as President Lee Jae-myung wraps up Japan visit

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3323035/china-south-korea-ties-critical-juncture-wang-yi-says-amid-bid-reset?utm

Orange Wang

Published: 2:37pm, 25 Aug 2025Updated: 5:24pm, 25 Aug 2025

China’s top diplomat urged Seoul to advance relations along “the right track”, in talks on Sunday with special envoys of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

“The relationship between [China and South Korea] is at a critical juncture for improvement and development,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the visiting delegation led by former South Korean National Assembly speaker Park Byeong-seug.

The meeting on Sunday coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two neighbours. It is the latest sign of efforts to reset relations with the newly installed leadership in Seoul under Lee after his predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol’s geopolitical tilt towards Washington and Tokyo.

Wang noted that Beijing’s policy towards South Korea maintained stability and continuity, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on Monday.

“Both sides should ... firmly uphold the direction of friendship, expand common interests, improve sentiment between the two peoples, properly handle sensitive issues, and promote the steady and sustained progress of bilateral relations on the right track,” Wang told the South Korean envoys.

South Korea pledges $150 billion to help US restore its shipbuilding industry

Park echoed the view, saying Seoul was ready to bring the strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations “back on track” by improving high-level exchanges, practical cooperation and people-to-people ties, according to the Chinese statement.

Handing over a letter from Lee to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Park said the South Korean leader once again invited Xi to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in late October, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Apec event, which will take place in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, has been widely expected as a potential stage for a long-awaited meeting between Xi and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

Park told Wang that Seoul was willing to develop relations with China and other major powers “in parallel” to jointly maintain regional peace and stability, the Chinese statement said.

Since vowing to mend ties with Beijing last month, Lee has also stepped up his “pragmatic diplomacy” campaign, walking a fine line between the country’s relations with its largest trading partner and its traditional allies, the United States and Japan.

On the same day his special envoys travelled to Beijing, Lee was wrapping up his trip to Tokyo, the newly installed South Korean leader’s first overseas visit since assuming the presidency more than two months ago.

Lee became the first South Korean president since 1965 – the year the country formally established diplomatic relations with Japan – to not make the US his first overseas visit after assuming office.

After his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday, the two countries issued a joint statement of summit outcomes for the first time in 17 years, stating that “it is paramount to promote unwavering cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the US, amid the rapidly changing international situation”.

The two Pacific treaty allies of Washington also agreed to cooperate for the China-Japan-South Korea summit to be held in Japan this year, although they did not specify a date.

Lee then went to the US on Sunday for a three-day visit. He is scheduled to meet Trump on Monday after their two countries reached a bilateral trade deal in July.

On a trip to the US last month, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Seoul “has become rather alert to China’s rise and its challenges. But … we want to maintain a good relationship”.

In late July, thousands of protesters gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Seoul, denouncing what they saw as the growing influence of China’s Communist Party in South Korea, leading to “solemn representations” from Beijing.

There were also protests in other cities, with Lee condemning them as crossing the boundary of free speech.

Still, diplomatic ties between Beijing and Seoul have begun to thaw since Lee, widely viewed as a China dove, took office in early June.

“Since the new South Korean government took office, China-South Korea relations have achieved a good start,” the Chinese ambassador to Seoul, Dai Bing, tweeted on Sunday.

South Korea announced this month that it would offer visa-free entry to tourist groups from China from September 29 until June next year.

Lee spoke with Xi in a call in June, and Lee was reportedly invited to attend China’s military parade in Tiananmen Square on September 3 marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Wang also mentioned the military parade during the meeting with Lee’s envoys, calling on South Korea to “jointly safeguard the outcomes of the victory of World War II and international fairness and justice”.

“China and South Korea should also work together to uphold the international system of free trade [and] jointly oppose trade protectionism,” he said.

Lee has reportedly decided not to attend the parade next week but will send a delegation of lawmakers led by National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.

Orange Wang

Based in Beijing, Orange covers a range of topics including China's economy and diplomacy. He previously worked in Hong Kong and had a stint in Washington. Before joining the Post, Orange worked as a Shanghai Correspondent for ET Net, a Hong Kong financial news agency.

5. South Korea tells China it wants to normalise ties, upgrade economic relations

South Korea tells China it wants to normalise ties, upgrade economic relations

straitstimes.com · August 25, 2025

SEOUL - South Korea hopes to normalise relations with China that have been strained in recent years, a special envoy from Seoul told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Aug 24, and agreed to boost economic cooperation, said Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung sent a special delegation led by former Parliament Speaker Park Byeong-seug to his country’s main trading partner as he travels to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

Mr Lee arrived in Washington early on Aug 25.

Mr Park told Mr Wang that he hoped the countries would work together to “open the door to normalising South Korea-China relations, which have been strained in recent years”, according to his comments relayed by South Korean TV.

Mr Park handed Mr Wang a letter from Mr Lee to Chinese President Xi Jinping and invited him to the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping in October, said South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in a statement on Aug 25.

Mr Wang welcomed the delegation’s visit and appreciated the message of developing ties between the countries, the ministry said.

“(South Korea’s) new government will pursue a mature development of South Korea-China strategic cooperation partnership based on national interest while continuing to develop the South Korea-US alliance,” Mr Park said.

The two sides agreed to work towards substantive progress on economic and supply chain cooperation, the ministry said.

In a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mr Wang said that development of both countries’ ties has shown that good neighbourliness, seeking common ground while reserving differences and expanding cooperation are the “right choices”.

Mr Wang added that China’s policy is to maintain stability and continuity with South Korea, and he urged both sides to “improve national sentiment and manage sensitivities properly” to move bilateral relations forward steadily.

Diplomatic ties between the countries have improved since a 2017 dispute over South Korea’s deployment of a US missile defence system, which Beijing opposed. But they exchanged harsh words in 2023 over critical comments on Beijing by South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol. REUTERS

straitstimes.com · August 25, 2025

6. As South Korea’s Leader Meets With Trump, China Looms Large

As South Korea’s Leader Meets With Trump, China Looms Large

Washington’s increasing focus on Beijing is straining the decades-old alliance between South Korea and the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/world/asia/south-korea-president-trump-meeting-us-china.html

President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea will meet with President Trump on Monday during his first official trip to Washington.Credit...Pool photo by Ahn Young-Joon

By Choe Sang-Hun

Reporting from Seoul

Aug. 24, 2025

阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版

During the South Korean election campaign this year, Lee Jae Myung said he would crawl between President Trump’s legs, if necessary, to protect his country’s national interests. But he also said, “I am not a pushover, either.”

Mr. Lee, who is now South Korea’s president, will put that balancing act to the test on Monday when he and Mr. Trump meet for the first time in Washington.

The two leaders have a lot in common. Both survived assassination attempts before taking office. Both share an interest in meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. But their priorities diverge when it comes to the seven-decade-old alliance between their two countries — especially over a potential conflict between China and Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.

Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have long been stationed in South Korea to deter North Korea, which has nuclear arms. But the Trump administration is demanding that Seoul take greater responsibility for its own defense, as Washington expands the role of its troops based in South Korea to help contain China. South Korea fears that this “strategic flexibility,” as the United States calls it, could leave it more vulnerable to the North and increase the chances of the South getting sucked into a war over Taiwan.

Seoul and Washington should ensure that strategic flexibility “will not undermine South Korea’s security” and the allies’ combined abilities to deter North Korea, Mr. Lee’s national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, told reporters on Friday.

The allies have found some common ground over that principle, Mr. Wi said. But officials were also wary of Mr. Trump’s unpredictability.

“If the president somehow feels that he needs to elicit some more public statements from Lee Jae Myung as a partner in countering the Chinese economic and military threat, that might put President Lee in a position that would take him beyond his current talking points,” Sydney Seiler, a Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said during an online panel discussion this past week.

Officials in Seoul are also concerned that if China invades Taiwan and the United States uses its forces in South Korea to defend Taiwan, China and North Korea could open another military conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Similar concerns were behind a 2006 joint statement in which the United States agreed to respect South Korea’s position that “it shall not be involved in a regional conflict in Northeast Asia against the will of the Korean people.” Only then did South Korea agree to respect “the necessity for strategic flexibility” of the U.S. forces in South Korea.

Image

U.S. soldiers during a joint military exercise with South Korea in March in Yeoncheon.Credit...Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press

But that was before the United States saw China as its biggest security threat and made defending Taiwan from Chinese aggression a priority. In recent weeks, some policy analysts in Washington have suggested that the U.S. military should drastically reduce its presence in South Korea because it cannot freely use its bases there to fight a war elsewhere.

If South Korea resists Washington’s demand on strategic flexibility, “the United States can simply relocate key components of its forces in South Korea to another region where it will face less constraint in sending them into a Taiwan contingency,” said Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean presidential adviser for diplomacy and national security.

This month, Gen. Xavier Brunson, the top U.S. military commander in Korea, said it should not be considered a foregone conclusion that the United States would want South Korea to join in a conflict between Taiwan and China.

But “what’s being asked of Korea is to be stronger” against North Korea so that the U.S. military might be able to “do other things,” General Brunson told reporters at the U.S. base in Pyeongtaek.

On his way to the United States, Mr. Lee made a stopover in Tokyo and met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. In a nod to Washington, Mr. Lee and Mr. Ishiba agreed to improve bilateral ties so that their nations could cooperate better with the United States to help contain China and North Korea. They also compared notes on an overlapping set of challenges, including Mr. Trump’s high tariffs and his pressure on U.S. allies to increase their military spending.

Seoul and Washington have yet to hash out the details of the broad-stroke trade deal they agreed to last month. Mr. Trump agreed to lower his tariffs on South Korea’s exports, like Samsung phones and Hyundai cars, to 15 percent in return for a $350 billion investment package from the country. He has also said that South Korea should increase its annual contribution to the upkeep of the U.S. troops on its soil to $10 billion, more than nine times the current level.

These demands have some South Koreans wondering if it would be better to try to defend their country without U.S. troops. In recent years, surveys have shown that a majority of citizens want South Korea to build its own nuclear weapons instead of relying on the United States for protection.

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.

A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 25, 2025, Section A, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: China Looms Over U.S.-South Korea Alliance. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

7. Trump Administration Live Updates: Meeting With South Korea’s Leader, Trump Praises North Korean Dictator

Ugh..

I failed in my mission here:

President Trump must not be persuaded by President Lee's views on 'respect' for the North Korean political system

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/08/18/korea-perspective-Trump-Lee-meeting/7141755520168/

Trump Administration Live Updates: Meeting With South Korea’s Leader, Trump Praises North Korean Dictator

• https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/25/us/trump-news

Image

President Trump hosted President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea at the White House.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Where Things Stand

• South Korea summit: President Trump, in an Oval Office appearance with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea as the decades-old alliance between their two nations shows signs of strain, praised the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned having a good relationship with Mr. Kim, saying the North had “great potential,” and at one point offered to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee.
• Policing crackdown: Mr. Trump signed an executive order aimed at forcing Washington, D.C., and other jurisdictions to end the use of what he called “cashless bail,” a policy intended to help poor defendants who cannot afford to post bond. Mr. Trump has blamed the practice for increases in violence, but studies do not support his claims.
• Immigration case: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and brought back to face criminal charges, was arrested again after the administration indicated that it planned to deport him to Uganda. Mr. Garcia, who was released from custody three days ago, was being processed for deportation, the homeland security secretary said. The administration has insisted that Mr. Abrego Garcia would “never go free on American soil.”

Aug. 25, 2025, 4:23 p.m. ET9 minutes ago

Maggie HabermanWhite House reporter

Trump uses a meeting with South Korea’s president to highlight his relationship with North Korea’s leader.

Image

President Trump met with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea in the Oval Office on Monday.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump, appearing beside President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea on Monday as the decades-old alliance between their two nations shows signs of strain, heaped praise on the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and stressed their positive relationship.

Appearing eager to insert himself into one of the thorniest issues in Korean politics, Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned having a good rapport with Mr. Kim, said the North had “great potential” as a country, and at one point offered to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee.

The remarks in the Oval Office were no surprise from a president who has often spoken admiringly of the world’s authoritarians, and who made a historic visit to meet with Mr. Kim in 2019.

But the context in which Mr. Trump made the comments — with Mr. Lee, the new president of South Korea, sitting next to him and saying nothing to object — was striking.

Only weeks ago, North Korea summarily rejected a series of efforts by Mr. Lee, who took office in June, seeking to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Kim Yo-jong, who speaks for her brother, Kim Jong-un, said in a statement carried in North Korean state media at the time that “no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it.”

Mr. Trump met with Mr. Lee in Washington for the first time as the relationship between their countries has been strained by the administration’s focus on China.

In and hour-long session in front of reporters, Mr. Trump talked up the alliance between the United States and South Korea. He said the U.S. was thinking about contracting ships from South Korea, and that in World War II, “we built a ship a day.” He predicted that era of industry would come back, he said, with South Korean investment in the United States as well.

But Mr. Trump repeatedly lingered on his relationship with Mr. Kim.

Over and over, Mr. Trump described them as getting along well and reminisced about his visit to see Mr. Kim, when the U.S. president took a symbolic walk across the demarcation line of the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea. Mr. Trump was the first sitting American president to do so. Before that meeting, he and Mr. Kim had taunted one another with insults and threats of attacks.

“I’d like to have a meeting,” Mr. Trump said of the chance for them to get together again. “I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future.”

Show less

Aug. 25, 2025, 4:23 p.m. ET10 minutes ago

Maggie HabermanWhite House reporter

Trump has what appears to be a large dark purple bruise on his right hand. Photos of the president from earlier in the day show something similar. The president has often worn makeup over a patch on his hand in the same place. In July, the White House blamed similar brusing on repeated handshaking and to the use of aspirin.

Image

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Aug. 25, 2025, 4:19 p.m. ET13 minutes ago

Maggie HabermanWhite House reporter

In the Oval Office, Trump suggests that a trade agreement with South Korea is moving ahead.

He makes the remarks, his third appearance before reporters today, while surrounded by relatives of service members killed during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He is signing a proclamation to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing of Abbey Gate in Kabul.

8. Trump voices hope to meet N.K. leader Kim this year, eyes ownership of U.S. base land in S. Korea

If he meets Kim Jong Un I hope he has in mind that he is going to execute a superior political warfare strategy.

(2nd LD) Trump voices hope to meet N.K. leader Kim this year, eyes ownership of U.S. base land in S. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Song Sang-ho · August 26, 2025

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday expressed his hope to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year, renewing his desire to reengage with the reclusive leader, as he held his first in-person summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Washington.

Sitting next to Lee at the Oval Office, Trump repeated his claim that he has a "great" relationship and "gets along great" with Kim, while portraying the North as a country of "tremendous" potential in what appears to be a call for the dynastic ruler to come back to the negotiating table.

Lee threw his support behind Trump's pursuit of dialogue with Kim, voicing his hope that Trump will open a "new path for peace on the Korean Peninsula." Trump expressed his expectation that he and Lee make "big progress" over diplomacy toward North Korea.

"Well, I am meeting a lot of people. I mean, it's hard to say that, but I'd like to meet him this year," Trump said during a press availability, responding to a reporter's question of when he will meet Kim.

He touted his personal ties with Kim, which Kim Yo-jong, the high-profile sister of the North Korean leader recently depicted as "not bad."

"I get along with him really well. I think he has a country of great potential, tremendous potential," he said, noting that it is "good" to get along with Kim.

Lee-Trump summit in Washington

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (L) holds talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)

Trump indicated his willingness to work with Lee to address North Korean issues, although it remains unclear whether Pyongyang would accede to diplomatic overtures from Seoul and Washington at a time when it relies on Russia for food, fuel, technology, military support and other assistance.

"We think we can do something in that regard, with respect to North and South (Korea), and I think you are much more prone to doing that than other leaders that I've been working with from South Korea," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the Oval Office, at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025 in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap)

His remarks came amid expectations that Trump would seek to resume his personal diplomacy with Kim, which led to three in-person meetings between them -- the first summit in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the last in June of the same year.

Regarding a recent trade deal between the two countries, Trump pointed out that South Korea wants a renegotiation. Under the deal, Korea committed to investing US$350 billion in the U.S., among other pledges, in return for the U.S.' lowering of "reciprocal tariffs" to 15 percent from the proposed 25 percent.

"They want to renegotiate the deal, but that's okay. I don't mind that," he said. "That doesn't mean they get anything, but I don't mind but we're going to have some very serious discussions about different things, including trade."

Asked about American troops in Korea, Trump also said that he wants to ask Seoul to give the United States "ownership" of land the Asian ally has leased to host U.S. military bases on its soil.

"Maybe one of the things I'd like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land while we have the big fort. You know we spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea," he said.

"But I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base," he added.

Regarding a question of whether his administration will reduce the troop number of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), he said he does not want to talk about that "now."

"Because we've been friends and we are friends," he said.

Speculation has continued that Washington is considering readjusting the size, composition and role of USFK to better deter the "pacing threat" from an increasingly assertive China.

Praising South Korea's shipbuilding capabilities, Trump said that his administration is considering a shipbuilding contract with the Asian country, as Washington strives to rebuild its industry given that America lags behind China's shipbuilding capacities.

"We are thinking about contracting some ships. They build them very well in South Korea," Trump said. "They're also thinking about coming to our country with some shipyards to start us on the process of building ships again."

During trade negotiations, Seoul proposed a "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" project, which includes constructing new shipyards in the U.S., nurturing shipbuilding personnel and reestablishing related supply chains as well as building American ships and cooperating on maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) projects.

He also commented on the issue of the "comfort women" -- the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, noting that it was an issue preventing the two countries from working together.

"Japan wanted to go, they want to get on (with it) and but Korea was very stuck on that, he said.

He added, "It was hard getting Japan and Korea together because of what took place a long time ago."

Despite his earlier social media post critical of the new South Korean government, the initial part of the meeting between Lee and Trump -- open to the press -- proceeded in a cordial manner.

In the post, Trump claimed there seems to be something like a "purge or revolution" in South Korea in an apparent reference to ongoing special counsel investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been detained over his martial law bid in December.

Trump later elaborated, saying that he posted it as he heard about recent raids by Korean investigators on churches and a military base.

"I am sure it's a misunderstanding, but there's a rumor going around about raiding churches," he said. "We will talk. I am sure that's going to be worked out fine."

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Song Sang-ho · August 26, 2025

9. Trump eyes 'ownership' of land S. Korea has leased for U.S. military bases

Has no one briefed the President on the alliance?

The cost of Camp Humphreys was $8.7 billion and 93% of the funds were provided by South Korea, NOT the U.S. The ROK gifted the US the largest US military base outside of CONUS.

Excerpt:

"Maybe one of the things I'd like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land while we have the big fort. You know we spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea," he said.

Trump eyes 'ownership' of land S. Korea has leased for U.S. military bases | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Song Sang-ho · August 26, 2025

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he wants to ask South Korea to give the United States "ownership" of land the Asian ally has leased to host U.S. military bases on its soil.

Trump made the remarks during a press availability as he held his first in-person meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House in Washington.

"Maybe one of the things I'd like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land while we have the big fort. You know we spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea," he said.

"But I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base," he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the Oval Office, at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025 in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap)

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Song Sang-ho · August 26, 2025

10. Lee offers to be pacemaker as Trump aims for peninsula peace

So are they going to partner in a quest for the Nobel?

The only way anyone will win the Nobel for Korea is by solving the "Korea question" and saving the 25 million Koreans in the north by establishing a free and unified Korea.

Lee offers to be pacemaker as Trump aims for peninsula peace

Summit projects cordial tone as leaders pledge coordinated approach to regional stability

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/08/26/STNNOCUETJHPBPJS2UAAICAY4E/

By Park Su-hyeon

Published 2025.08.26. 02:58

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump convened for a bilateral summit at the White House on Aug. 25, focusing on denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula. The leaders met in the Oval Office before continuing discussions over a working lunch in the Cabinet Room, projecting an atmosphere of cordiality and mutual respect. Notably, the dialogue made no reference to pre-summit pressures, instead emphasizing shared strategic and diplomatic goals.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump share a laugh during their bilateral summit in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2025./Yonhap

Trump opened by framing the discussion in terms of past experience and continuity. “We had two summits [with Kim Jong-un], but we became very friendly… Had Hillary Clinton won, it would have been a disaster,” he said. Recalling the 2018 Winter Olympics, he added: “You were doing the Olympics… and there was a great time of hostility with North Korea. There were empty stadiums because people were afraid to go. Then they called and wanted to be part of it, and it turned into a tremendous success. I was very proud of that.”

Lee acknowledged the evolving security landscape during Trump’s hiatus from office. “North Korea developed further its nuclear and missile capabilities, which led to a deterioration on the situation of the Korean Peninsula,” he said. The South Korean president appealed to Trump to assume a leading role in advancing peace, adding, “The only person that can make progress on this issue is you, Mr. President. So if you become the pacemaker, then I will assist you by being a pacemaker.” Trump affirmed his commitment: “I will do that, and we’ll have talks. He’d like to meet with me. He didn’t want to meet with Biden because he had no respect for Biden. But we look forward to meeting with him, and we’ll make relations better.”

The conversation extended beyond security to economic and strategic cooperation. Trump highlighted U.S. industrial priorities, noting, “We’re going to go back into the shipbuilding business again because essentially we don’t build ships anymore. You’re going to be doing a lot of ships in this country. So I look forward to that.” He also reiterated South Korea’s importance as a purchaser of American military equipment, describing it as both a commercial and strategic cornerstone of the alliance.

Lee returned the compliment with a broader reflection on U.S. global influence. “America’s role not as a keeper of peace but an acre of peace is emerging more evidently,” he said. “Many wars in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in the Middle East are coming to peace because of the role you are playing.” He emphasized the value of extending the U.S.-South Korea alliance into a future-oriented framework encompassing security, economics, and science and technology, while reaffirming the Korean people’s expectations for a stable and peaceful peninsula.

The summit’s tone contrasted sharply with the tense rhetoric preceding it, projecting instead a spirit of collaboration. Both leaders positioned the meeting as an opportunity to solidify a U.S.-South Korea partnership capable of addressing the persistent challenges posed by North Korea, while exploring industrial and defense cooperation in parallel.

11. Trump eyes new DMZ meeting with Kim Jong-un

Note the vague reference to unification. I guess President Trump must be referring to when Korea was Koguryo and occupied much of Manchuria. But the relative size of Korea has not changed in many years and Korea was never as powerful as South Korea is now. But perhaps President Trump knows his 5th Century Asian history well.

Some help from my "research assistant:"

From Chinese historical records, such as the Book of Wei (魏書), which described Goguryeo as a strong and expansive entity, even if not literally calling it "large" by today's territorial metrics. Descriptors like "mighty," "powerful," or "expansive" were often used, especially when referring to its military or geopolitical reach.

During the height of the Goguryeo Kingdom (37 BCE – 668 CE), it controlled a vast territory, much of which included:

• Modern-day Northeast China (Manchuria): Including parts of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang Provinces.
• Northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula.
• Parts of present-day Inner Mongolia.

At its peak in the 5th century (particularly under King Gwanggaeto the Great), Goguryeo's territory extended across a significant portion of Manchuria and northern Korea, making it one of the largest and most powerful states in East Asia at the time.

Chinese, Korean, and Japanese historical texts all document this era as one in which Goguryeo exerted political and military dominance, fought major wars with the Chinese dynasties (Wei, Sui, Tang), and even absorbed rival Korean kingdoms (Baekje and Silla at various points).

Modern Significance and Controversy

There is an ongoing territorial and historical dispute between China and South Korea over the legacy of Goguryeo:

• China includes Goguryeo in its "Northeast Project", arguing it was a regional government within ancient Chinese empires.
• South Korea views Goguryeo as a core part of Korean national history, representing Korean sovereignty and identity.

This issue remains politically sensitive, particularly in the context of cultural heritage, textbook narratives, and regional diplomacy.

Summary:

• Korea has not usually been called "large" in a geographic sense, but Goguryeo was a powerful kingdom that ruled large parts of Manchuria and northern Korea.
• Goguryeo's expansion into modern Chinese territory gives Korea a historical claim to having once governed a “large” region in East Asia.
• This historical memory plays a strong role in modern Korean identity and unification discourse.

Excerpt:

What are your thoughts on a unified Korea?

Trump: “I mean, there was one Korea. It was a very large country and a very powerful country. It went to war with China many times over the last 2,000 years—many times. I think President Xi told me 51 times.”

Trump eyes new DMZ meeting with Kim Jong-un

Trump presses for US base control; Lee clarifies probe did not involve American forces, says Seoul–Tokyo rift has eased

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/08/26/PMZFRO2VYZFCPNDD2EVJN3DFCQ/

By Park Su-hyeon

Published 2025.08.26. 04:12

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump offered a candid view of alliance priorities during a post-summit press session at the White House on Aug. 25, tackling issues from North Korean diplomacy to the status of U.S. military bases in South Korea and the easing of tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.

While Trump revived the prospect of another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — potentially at the Demilitarized Zone — he also suggested that the United States should seek ownership, not just leasehold, of major military bases in South Korea. Lee, for his part, moved quickly to clarify that a domestic probe into past abuses of power had not extended to U.S. forces stationed on Korean soil. He further emphasized that longstanding tensions with Japan had been largely resolved, underscoring Seoul’s commitment to trilateral cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.

The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a summit at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025./Newsis

When do you plan to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?

Trump: “I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un at the appropriate time in the future.”

Will you reduce the number of U.S. forces in South Korea to increase flexibility in the region?

Trump: “We’ve been friends, and we’re friends. We have over 40,000 troops in South Korea. As you know, South Korea agreed to pay for that during my last term. Then when Biden came in, they complained, and he agreed not to pay. We were getting paid billions of dollars, but then Biden ended that for whatever reason—it’s unbelievable. There was a contribution made by South Korea. But I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base.”

How can the South Korea–U.S. alliance be strengthened?

Trump: “I think it’s great now. I feel very warmly toward South Korea. A lot of people in business that I deal with are from South Korea. They love Trump because they feel I’ve saved them. I think you would have had a nuclear war if I weren’t president. North Korea and South Korea—it would have been a disaster.”

What sectors will the trade deal focus on?

Trump: “Well, we’re going to get along great because we really need each other. We love what they do, we love their products, we love their ships, we love a lot of the things that they make, and they love what we have. We’re dealing with them on Alaska, having to do with oil—you need oil and we have it. So we have a big advantage in that way. We have more oil, gas, coal, and energy than any other country in the world by far. [...] We’re going to be making a deal, a joint venture with South Korea. Japan is involved too, also very strongly.”

Would you return to the DMZ to meet the North Korean leader?

Trump: “I would love it. Remember when I walked across the line, and everyone went crazy—especially the Secret Service. I’m talking about the two blue buildings on each side. I walked up the middle, looked in the window, and saw more guns than I’ve ever seen in my life. I looked at the other side—it was the same thing. Yet I felt safe because I have a great relationship with Kim Jong-un. I hope it stays that way. I think it will. I have a very good relationship. I understand him. I spent a lot of free time with him talking about things we probably aren’t supposed to talk about, and I get along with him really well. I think he has a country of great potential, tremendous potential.”

You mentioned either this year or next year you will visit China. President Lee is also planning to go.

Trump: “Maybe we’ll go together. Do you want to go together? We can share a plan, save energy, save a little—you know, the ozone layer.”

Lee: “I’d love to go to China with you.”

Trump: “Well, it was sort of jokingly said, but if you want, you can. I’m going to get special permission.”

What are your thoughts on a unified Korea?

Trump: “I mean, there was one Korea. It was a very large country and a very powerful country. It went to war with China many times over the last 2,000 years—many times. I think President Xi told me 51 times.”

Can you elaborate on earlier remarks about raids in South Korea regarding churches or U.S. military bases?

Trump: “I heard from intel that there was a raid on churches. We’re going to talk about that later. I haven’t spoken about it yet, but we’ll meet, and that would be too bad if that’s the case. I did hear that some churches were closed. We’ll talk about that later.”

Lee: “It hasn’t been long since Korea overcame the political turmoil following the former president’s self-coup. Currently, a special prosecutor appointed by the National Assembly is conducting a fact-finding investigation. They did not conduct search and seizure of American bases, but looked into the control, chain of command, and control system of the Korean military. I will be happy to explain further later.”

Trump: “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding. I’m sure it will be worked out fine.”

Do you plan to attend the APEC summit in South Korea this year?

Trump: “Yes, absolutely. [...] I think I’m going for a trade meeting to South Korea pretty soon. You’re hosting, so I can sneak away from that trade meeting and do something for the president if he’d like me to. We’ll be going there fairly soon.”

Will you help arrange a meeting between the leaders of South Korea and North Korea?

Trump: “We’ll arrange a meeting between you and Kim Jong-un. Would you like that? That’s a very tough question right now. I don’t know where that question is leading. I get along great with Kim Jong-un, and whatever I can do to help South Korea and North Korea get together, you should get together, right?”

How do you see trilateral cooperation with Japan?

Trump: “Japan is a great ally. I had a little bit of a hard time getting you two together because you’re still thinking about comfort women. I thought that was settled a few times over the decades. But there is an overlapping problem—perhaps I’m wrong in saying it, perhaps this isn’t right—but the whole issue of comfort women was a very big problem for Korea, not for Japan. Japan wanted to get on, but Korea was very stuck.”

Lee: “Because I know that President Trump put emphasis on trilateral cooperation, I made a visit to Japan before coming to the U.S. to settle the difficult issues we have.”

Trump: “Japan wants to get along very well with you, and I find them to be great people, great country. You have something in common—you want to solve the North Korea problem.”

Lee: “When I visited Japan and met with Prime Minister Ishiba, I realized that many of the obstacles that existed between our two countries have now been removed.”

12. Trump says U.S. to partner with S. Korea, Japan on Alaska energy project

Deals, deals, deals. Good for the alliances and trilateral cooperation.

Trump says U.S. to partner with S. Korea, Japan on Alaska energy project | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Kim Eun-jung · August 26, 2025

By Kim Eun-jung

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will partner with South Korea and Japan for an energy project in Alaska to develop the state's massive oil and gas reserves.

Trump made the remarks at his first summit with President Lee Jae Myung at the White House, which followed Seoul's trade deal with Washington to lower tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent in exchange for a $350 billion investment package and $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases.

"We have the greatest amount of energy in the world and we're dealing with South Korea, as you know, in Alaska," Trump said. "We're going to be making a deal, a joint venture with South Korea. Japan is also very strongly involved."

The project envisions shipping gas from northern Alaska in liquefied form to Asian markets. South Korea and Japan are the world's No. 3 and No. 2 LNG importers, respectively, after China.

"We have more oil and gas and coal than any other nation in the world by far, and we're going to use it. And that's the thing that South Korea, I think, most wants from us," he said.

President Lee Jae Myung (L) speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during their summit in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Kim Eun-jung · August 26, 2025

13. Trump says U.S. to buy ships from S. Korea, revive domestic shipbuilding industry

MASGA. (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again)

Trump says U.S. to buy ships from S. Korea, revive domestic shipbuilding industry | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Kim Eun-jung · August 26, 2025

By Kim Eun-jung

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump held a summit at the White House on Monday, agreeing to step up economic cooperation in shipbuilding and other manufacturing sectors.

Lee said he looks forward to working with the U.S. to revive the shipbuilding industry and other areas in a bid to broaden the security-focused alliance to include the economy, technology and science.

"It seems that the U.S. is becoming great again. A renaissance is taking place not only in shipbuilding but also in manufacturing, and I hope the Republic of Korea can take part in that process," Lee said, referring to South Korea's official name.

President Lee Jae Myung (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump smile during their summit at the Oval Office of White House on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)

The meeting came after Seoul and Washington reached a trade deal in late July that lowered U.S. duties on Korean goods from 25 percent to 15 percent in return for a $350 billion investment package and $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases. Of that, $150 billion was earmarked for shipbuilding under the slogan "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" (MASGA).

Trump said the U.S. plans to purchase ships from South Korea while also partnering to rebuild its long-declining shipbuilding sector.

"We're going to be buying ships from South Korea. We're also going to have them (build) make ships here with our people, using our people, and we're going to go back into the shipbuilding business again," he said, adding "We love their ships."

When asked about how the MASGA project would proceed, Trump said the shipbuilding sector would be a "hard one to start" but expressed hope to revive the key industry through the initiative.

Trump also mentioned ongoing negotiations with South Korea on a joint energy project in Alaska involving South Korea and Japan, as well as talks on South Korea's potential purchases of U.S. military equipment, including B-2 bombers.

"We're dealing with them on Alaska having to do with the oil they need. You need oil, and we have it. So we have a big advantage in that way," Trump said.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Kim Eun-jung · August 26, 2025

14. Seoul cannot ‘readily agree’ to expand mission of US troops on peninsula: Lee

President Lee should read the Mutual Defense Treaty. President Lee needs to expand the mission of ROK troops to support its national interests and meet its treaty obligations. 

ARTICLE III

Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties in territories now under their respective administrative control, or hereafter recognized by one of the Parties as lawfully brought under the administrative control of the other, would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kor001.asp

Seoul cannot ‘readily agree’ to expand mission of US troops on peninsula: Lee

ROK president acknowledges calls for US forces to counter China, not just deter North Korea, ahead of Trump summit

https://www.nknews.org/2025/08/seoul-cannot-readily-agree-to-expand-mission-of-us-troops-on-peninsula-lee/

Jooheon Kim August 25, 2025

Lee Jae-myung speaks at a meeting | Image: Lee Jae-myung via X (Jul. 30, 2025)

South Korea cannot “readily agree to” expanding the mission of American troops stationed on the peninsula beyond deterring North Korea, President Lee Jae-myung said ahead of his first summit with Donald Trump on Monday.

The ROK leader’s remarks, which he made to reporters on a plane en route to Washington, came against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s push for greater strategic flexibility for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to focus more on countering China, a move that would increase Seoul’s responsibility for defending against DPRK attack.

“It is true that there have been requests for flexibility [from the U.S. side], but from our perspective, it is not something we can readily agree to,” Lee said. 

The South Korean president added that while the two sides interpret certain terms differently, resolving such differences is part of the negotiation process, and the atmosphere “is not as tense as some might assume.”

Min Jeong-hun, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, explained that the U.S. sees strategic flexibility as a way to expand the role of USFK across the Indo-Pacific region. By contrast, he said Seoul remains cautious, believing that U.S. forces should primarily serve as a deterrent on the Korean Peninsula.

“A possible compromise could involve U.S. troops maintaining their role in defending the Korean Peninsula while taking on a more active regional role as part of future-oriented strategic modernization,” he told NK News. 

USFK has previously alluded to a strategic shift in its mission, highlighting the importance of responding to broader regional threats, especially those posed by China in places like the Taiwan Strait. This has reaggravated long-running fears of U.S. abandonment in Seoul.

In his remarks on the presidential jet, Lee also commented on deteriorating inter-Korean relations, noting increased distrust and hostility compared to the past. 

He warned that North Korea’s nuclear and missile development has increased significantly, making it necessary to put in many times more effort than before to achieve realistic progress toward denuclearization, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Lee also responded to recent criticism from DPRK leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong, who called him “not the sort of man who will change the course of history” in a statement rejecting Seoul’s diplomatic overtures and criticizing U.S.-ROK military drills.

“Maybe they expect me to be a great man,” he joked.

The president added that he was not angry, and he attributed Kim’s remarks to the state of inter-Korean relations, explaining that he approaches North Korea like it is a “part of nature.”

“Complaining about why the river is wide and deep is meaningless. We just have to cross it,” he said.

Lee also reiterated a belief in dialogue based on deterrence and his three-step road map to achieving denuclearization, despite Pyongyang’s persistent claims that it will never abandon its nuclear arsenal. 

“My hope was to first pause, then reduce nuclear weapons, and ultimately achieve denuclearization,” he said.

The expert Min said Lee and Trump will likely agree on the denuclearization road map, which largely reiterates the approach that the U.S. president took during his diplomacy with Pyongyang in his first term.

“The summit is expected to include expressions of support for the Trump administration’s commitment to resolving the North Korea problem. Following that, South Korea is likely to affirm its intention to play an active role in those efforts.”

Lee’s unification minister previously raised the possibility of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the South, but when asked about the possibility, Lee dismissed the idea, stating that deep distrust and hostility has made the situation “objectively much worse” than in 2018. 

He appeared to be referring to the DPRK’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, when Korean athletes marched behind the Korean unification flag. The event helped jump-start denuclearization talks that led to three inter-Korean summits and two U.S.-DPRK summits from 2018-2019.

Meanwhile, Min of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy raised the possibility that Monday’s summit could feature discussion of defense cost-sharing.

President Trump has repeatedly pressured South Korea to contribute more to the upkeep of U.S. troops stationed in the country, previously accusing Seoul of paying “virtually nothing.” He has also urged allies in both Europe and Asia to boost their defense spending to 5% of GDP as part of a broader “burden-sharing” push.

Edited by Bryan Betts

15. 96 North Korean defectors resettle in South in first half, down from last year

Draconian population and resources control measures by the Kim family regime since the COVID outbreak..

96 North Korean defectors resettle in South in first half, down from last year

Seoul says most arrived after spending significant time in China, as DPRK border controls make escape more difficult

https://www.nknews.org/2025/08/96-north-korean-defectors-resettle-in-south-in-first-half-down-from-last-year/

Jooheon Kim August 25, 2025

A North Korean man in Pyongyang | Image: NK News

A total of 96 North Korean defectors entered South Korea in the first half of 2025, most after spending a significant period in China or other third countries before arriving.

Seoul’s unification ministry told NK News on Monday that 88 were women and only 8 were men. The number is similar to the 105 defectors recorded in the first half of 2024 but marks a 27% decrease from 131 defectors in the second half of last year.

Of the arrivals this year, 38 arrived in the first quarter and 58 in the second quarter.

The ministry confirmed that most of the defectors escaped the DPRK via the North Korea-China border, staying for extended periods in third countries before making their way to South Korea.

As of the end of June 2025, the cumulative number of North Korean defectors who have settled in the South stands at 34,410, with women accounting for 72% of the total.

The number of North Korean refugees resettling in the South has declined precipitously since the start of the pandemic, when China and the DPRK ramped up security infrastructure on both sides of the border.

While the easing of COVID-19 restrictions has since led to a modest increase, the number of new arrivals remains well below pre-pandemic levels, when over 1,000 escapees resettled in the South every year.

Meanwhile, the unification ministry has decided to reduce the frequency with which it publishes defector arrival statistics from four times a year to twice a year.

“The quarterly disclosure was adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when defector numbers dropped sharply. However, we’ve decided to revert to semiannual reporting as the trend has remained relatively stable in recent years,” a ministry official said.

Hwang Jin-tae, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, told NK News that he does not view the reduction in defector number announcements as a measure taken out of concern for North Korea, unlike Seoul’s recent decision to prepare but not publish an annual report on North Korean human rights abuses. 

“If defector numbers increase again, reporting frequency could be adjusted to quarterly or even monthly,” he said.

Regarding the significant gender disparity, Choi Hyeon-ok, a spokesperson for the Korea Hana Foundation, previously explained that many North Korean women who escape to China can blend in by posing as ethnic minorities and are more likely to find work in restaurants and service jobs. 

She said North Korean men are more “tied to state-run institutions,” while women are often involved in informal market activities outside the official economy.

Edited by Bryan Betts

16. Regime briefs grassroots cadres on mass reporting law to tighten social control

We must not lose sight of the internal stresses that Kim is facing that could lead to instability and regime collapse. We must be vigilant.

Regime briefs grassroots cadres on mass reporting law to tighten social control

"In the past, the regime relied on ideological education and political propaganda to maintain the system, but now it uses the form of law to enforce stronger control," an analyst told Daily NK

By Seon Hwa - August 25, 2025

dailynk.com · August 25, 2025

A photo capture of the text of the first chapter of the law. (Daily NK)

North Korean authorities are taking an unprecedented approach to strengthening social surveillance by assembling grassroots organization leaders for detailed briefings on the country’s “Law on Mass Reporting.”

Recent sessions in South Pyongan Province marked a significant departure from typical political education. Instead of emphasizing party directives or supreme leader instructions, officials focused on presenting actual legal provisions and explaining their requirements in detail.

State security departments across the province’s cities and counties have been summoning local cadres—including Korean Socialist Women’s League chairwomen, people’s unit leaders, and district leaders—for compliance sessions based on materials titled “On correctly understanding the demands of the Law on Mass Reporting and rising up to establish a reporting system.”

The explanatory materials obtained by Daily NK include Article 18 of the Law on Mass Reporting, which mandates people report “acts that endanger the safety of the state’s supreme leadership, undermine the authority of the Party, or commit anti-state and anti-national crimes.”

Authorities particularly emphasized that top-priority reporting targets include activities harming state security or Party authority, along with the inflow, distribution, storage, or viewing of illegal information and videos.

Legal coercion replaces ideological persuasion

This detailed presentation of legal provisions to grassroots cadres represents a highly unusual approach for North Korean authorities, who typically rely on broad political slogans rather than specific legal text.

The shift appears designed to counter growing individualism and complacency among people, who increasingly express attitudes like “if it’s not my business, I don’t care—why should I monitor and report on others?”

Grassroots cadres who attended the sessions offered a cynical assessment of the initiative. “Most people lived unaware of the law’s existence, but now they suddenly push unfamiliar provisions to force surveillance and reporting,” one participant observed. “Outwardly it looks like change, but in reality it only means stronger surveillance among people.”

The legal education approach initially sparked some optimism among residents who hoped greater legal knowledge might protect them from arbitrary treatment. “If we know the law, we may be able to avoid unjust treatment,” some reasoned.

However, once people learned the focus was the Law on Mass Reporting, criticism emerged that this represented “not law to protect residents, but law to control every detail of their lives.”

The regime’s decision to present detailed legal provisions signals that traditional methods of social control may be losing effectiveness. Simple instructions and political slogans appear insufficient for maintaining the level of surveillance authorities desire.

A North Korea expert, speaking anonymously, interpreted the development as evidence of deeper systemic challenges. “In the past, the regime relied on ideological education and political propaganda to maintain the system, but now it uses the form of law to enforce stronger control,” the analyst explained.

“This shows it is becoming increasingly difficult to suppress internal discontent and block the spread of outside information.”

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · August 25, 2025

17. North Korea’s Glossy New Surface: Apps, Beaches and a Fake Starbucks

A number of videos are at the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/world/asia/north-korea-foreign-tourism.html

North Korea’s Glossy New Surface: Apps, Beaches and a Fake Starbucks

Videos taken by visitors to the isolated country provide a rare glimpse of how it’s mimicking the consumerism of the outside world.

Listen to this article · 8:09 min Learn more

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VideoA Glimpse into North Korea’s New Beach Resort

3:15

Daria Zubkova, one of the first foreign tourists to visit the Wonsan Kalma resort, said the experience felt like other beach trips she’d taken before, but with some unusual features.CreditCredit...Daria Zubkova

By Jiawei Wang and Choe Sang-Hun

Reporting from Seoul

Aug. 25, 2025, 

12:01 a.m. ET

North Korea is taking inspiration from the West. In Pyongyang, elites drink coffee at a fake Starbucks and pay by mobile phone. About 100 miles away on the east coast, a seaside resort that’s a pet project of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is stocked with foreign beers and decked out with water slides, ready to receive tourists.

To blunt the impact of international sanctions and bring in cash, North Korea is creating the look of prosperity by imitating its capitalist enemies.

The New York Times obtained footage from three recent visitors to the country: a Russian tourist, a Swedish marathon runner and a Chinese student. While the foreigners had North Korean chaperones and were not allowed to film construction sites and military personnel, they provided a rare glimpse into how Mr. Kim’s modernization plans are nurturing a new culture of consumerism in one of the world’s most isolated and authoritarian countries. The goods they encountered are out of reach for most North Koreans, who earn, on average, a little over $1,000 a year, according to South Korea.

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Stores in Pyongyang carry imitation Lego kits, Russian salami and North Korean beauty products.

‘North Korean IKEA’

A student from China who is taking language classes in Pyongyang said he initially thought the country would be backward.

“I was worried about not having enough food or warm clothes,” he said. “But when I arrived, I found it to be quite luxurious.”

The student, whose name is being withheld out of fear of reprisals from officials, said one of the city’s most upscale spots is a multistory shopping mall, Rangrang Patriotic Geumganggwan, which sells a range of furniture, kitchenware and food products. He said he and his fellow Chinese students called it “North Korean IKEA” because the layout and products looked like they had been directly lifted from the Swedish furniture company.

Video

While it is unclear if the products are imitations or real ones that are smuggled in, some items like lamps and lampshades appear to have the same name and packaging as those sold at IKEA stores.

Image

The mall also has a coffee shop that is a copy of Starbucks’ premium brand, Starbucks Reserve, except that North Korea calls the cafe “Mirai Reserve.” The star in the Starbucks Reserve logo is replaced with a stylized version of the letter M.

Video

The student said he usually paid in U.S. dollars and personally found prices in Pyongyang expensive, recalling the time he paid about $25 for three coffees at Mirai Reserve.

Image

U.N. sanctions ban foreign brands from selling luxury goods to North Korea or opening joint business ventures there. Starbucks said it had no store in North Korea.

Jakob Holmström, an IKEA spokesman, said the same was true of his company.

“We have no authorized IKEA sales channels in North Korea,” he said. “We are continuously monitoring for infringements of our intellectual property rights and, where appropriate, take action.”

Mr. Kim condones and even encourages consumerism in Pyongyang because it is home to the elites, many of whom have traveled abroad as diplomats and traders or as workers sent to earn cash for the regime. They have been exposed to Western goods and have money and a taste for them, according to analysts and officials in South Korea. Mr. Kim seeks to draw some of the dollars these elites have privately amassed into state coffers, they said.

Most payments in the capital seem to be made with mobile phones, said Johan Nylander, a 53-year-old Swedish runner from Hong Kong who participated in the Pyongyang marathon in April. Even small street vendors selling bottles of water and juice preferred digital payments via QR code over cash, he said.

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Video

CreditCredit...Johan Nylander

“Mobile phones are a big part of daily life,” Mr. Nylander said. “They have a lot of the apps that you can find in the rest of the world: video, texting, North Korean-style Uber and shopping.”

Imitating Western consumer brands is a way for Mr. Kim to bring a look of modernization.

“It shows duplicity in their approach,” said Kang Dong-wan, an expert on North Korea at Dong-A University in South Korea. On one hand, the regime wants to show Pyongyang off as a modern city. On the other hand, however, it seeks not to acknowledge Western influence.

North Korea’s ‘Waikiki’

This summer, Mr. Kim opened his most ambitious resort project, the Wonsan Kalma beach complex. Called “North Korea’s Waikiki” by South Korean media, it features a line of new hotels along a 2.5-mile-long scenic sandy beach.

At the opening ceremony, North Korean state media footage showed Mr. Kim walking around a colorful water park while watching people zip down water slides.

Video

CreditCredit...Korean Central Television via Reuters

Last month, North Korea allowed the first foreigners into the resort, around a dozen tourists from Russia. Daria Zubkova, a 35-year-old veterinarian from St. Petersburg, Russia, said North Korea had long been a country she wanted to visit, so she paid about $1,400 for the weeklong trip.

Ms. Zubkova said everything appeared brand new, from the train that brought the group to the resort, to her hotel room and the beach amenities. “It looks like a picture that was painted for you,” she said.

Video

CreditCredit...Daria Zubkova

The Russians sped around on jet skis and had barbecues on the beach with an assortment of beers from the United States, Japan and China. Ms. Zubkova said the food was plentiful, and her group ate a lot of seafood, sashimi and grilled meats. She said she even went shopping, buying a pair of Ugg-branded shoes because she had not been able to find her size in Russia.

Tourism is one sector of the economy that has not been sanctioned by the United Nations. Under Mr. Kim, “North Korea has considered tourism a multipurpose industry that could bring in foreign currency, create jobs, stimulate domestic consumption and improve the national image,” said Choi Eun-ju, an analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

Ms. Zubkova said that she had not felt like she was being monitored because she was allowed to roam the resort freely, but that wherever she went there was always resort staff nearby, from lifeguards to waitresses and doctors. “I felt like a hero in a movie because everyone is watching you and whatever you ask is immediately fulfilled,” she said.

Video

CreditCredit...Daria Zubkova

But “promoting tourism presents North Korea with a dilemma in seeking a balance between openness and control,” said Hwang Joo Hee and Na Yongwoo, analysts at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, in a report published in March.

Since 2020, North Korea has enacted a series of draconian laws aimed at cracking down on outside cultural influence. Tourism runs the risk of weakening Mr. Kim’s totalitarian control on information, a key to maintaining his unquestioned authority. Information about his country and news from the outside world will inevitably flow in and out of North Korea through foreign visitors.

In recent months, foreign tourists who have visited North Korea reported asking the country’s tour guides about the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia’s war against Ukraine — something the government had not made public until April. North Korea briefly stopped receiving foreign tourists this year after social media influencers posted videos of their trips to North Korea with unflattering comments.

The biggest potential source of tourist cash for North Korea is China. In 2019, the year before North Korea shut its borders to keep the pandemic out, it attracted a record 300,000 foreign tourists, most of them from China.

Milana Mazaeva contributed reporting from Tbilisi, Georgia.

Jiawei Wang is a video journalist for The New York Times based in Seoul.

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea.

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com