South Korea’s Lee says staff feared "Zelenskyy moment" in first Trump talks

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has admitted his aides were bracing for a tense encounter with Donald Trump during their first White House meeting, fearing what he described as a potential “Zelenskyy moment.”

Speaking at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies on August 25, Lee said his team feared the meeting could resemble the Oval Office clash earlier this year when President Trump and Vice President JD Vance grilled Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on live television, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

“My staff were worried that we might face a ‘Zelenskyy moment,’” Lee told the audience. But he insisted the meeting “went beyond my expectations,” adding that Trump gave him encouragement and extended their discussion well past its allotted time.

Lee, who took office in June, said he entered the talks confident he could avoid confrontation. “That’s because I had read President Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal,” he remarked.

Trump stirs drama ahead of talks

Hours before the meeting, Trump appeared to unsettle the diplomatic mood by questioning South Korea’s political stability. On his Truth Social platform, he posted: “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there. I am seeing the new President today at the White House. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”

He later told reporters he had “heard bad things” about Lee’s domestic political situation.

Despite that backdrop, Lee said discussions focused on strengthening U.S.–South Korea economic ties and reshaping the alliance to fit what he called a “changing security landscape.”

Trade tensions linger

The South Korean leader sidestepped questions over the verbal trade deal he struck with Trump last month. That agreement set tariffs at 15% in return for South Korean investment pledges of more than $350 billion and an additional $100 billion in energy purchases.

Trump, however, suggested Seoul had sought to reopen parts of the deal. “They had some problems with it, but we stuck to our guns,” he told reporters. “We are going to, they’re going to make the deal that they agreed to make.”

Big-ticket investments roll in

On the same day, major announcements underscored the scale of South Korean investment in the U.S.

Amazon unveiled a $50bn partnership with Korean firms and startup X-energy to launch small nuclear reactors across the U.S. Boeing and GE Aerospace signed a $50bn agreement with Korean Air for 103 Boeing aircraft.

Lee is also due to visit a Philadelphia shipyard on August 26, recently acquired by a South Korean company, which he said could spark a revival of U.S. shipbuilding. “The K-shipbuilding industry, equipped with the world’s strongest capabilities, will bring about a renaissance of the U.S. shipbuilding industry and create a new historic turning point for mutual prosperity,” Lee declared.

Security and China ties

Lee stressed the continued importance of the U.S.–South Korea military alliance in deterring Pyongyang, warning that North Korea’s drive for nuclear-armed intercontinental missiles was a “growing international menace.” While he reaffirmed that Seoul would not pursue its own nuclear deterrent, he cautioned: “There is a balance of fear on the Korean peninsula, but the situation is deteriorating.”

But even as he courted Trump, Lee avoided any suggestion of distancing South Korea from China. “Korea is currently kind of distanced from America’s export controls and supply chain controls regarding China,” he said. “But because we are geographically very closely located to China, we are maintaining our relationship with China.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev