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Post-impeachment South Korea looks to reset Trump ties as election nears

Published: 27 Apr. 2025, 14:01

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Leesburg Executive Airport on Marine One in Leesburg, Virginia, on April 24. [AP/YONHAP]

Marred by political turmoil that led to the ouster of its president, South Korea found itself adrift in the uncertain currents of diplomacy in the first 100 days of the second Donald Trump administration.

The leadership void, following former President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment and his eventual removal from office, has left the country with missed opportunities for engagement with the Trump administration, including an early summit with Trump, — a setback for the U.S. ally with a host of issues to work out with Trump's team, from sweeping U.S. tariff measures to North Korea's growing military threats.

As South Korea is scheduled to elect a president on June 3, the new leader will be tasked with putting relations with the United States back on a normal trajectory, starting with an early summit with Trump, experts said.

South Korea's interim government, led by acting President Han Duck-soo, has gone all out on making sure that the alliance with Washington remains strong and without disruption.

Still, the absence of a formal "commander in chief" has continued to raise concerns that South Korea may be sidelined in Trump's policy priorities.

Those worries deepened as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth skipped South Korea during a recent tour of the Indo-Pacific. Similarly, Sean O'Neill, a senior official in the U.S. State Department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau, left South Korea off his itinerary in his Asia swing last week, opting to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and Japan instead.

Adding to the uncertainty, no new U.S. ambassador to South Korea has been announced. The former special envoy for North Korea, Joseph Yun, is currently filling the role in an acting capacity.

The leadership vacuum also took a toll as Trump aggressively rolled out a 25 percent "reciprocal" tariff rate on South Korea — now suspended until July 8 — and made repeated references to North Korea as a "nuclear power" along with frequent boasting of his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"From the U.S. perspective, there hasn't been a responsible counterpart with the authority to engage in high-level talks," Choi Kang, president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said.

"We may assess that engagement with the United States has not been as close as it used to be, since there haven't been many high-level meetings in the past 100 days. But that has more to do with our own political circumstances than with President Trump ignoring Korea," Choi said.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, front right, poses with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front left, ahead of their talks in Munich on Feb. 15. [YONHAP]

Trump's first phone call earlier this month with Han helped ease concerns about the lack of leader-to-leader engagement between Seoul and Washington.

Trump used the phone call to clearly lay out his expectations from South Korea, proposing a "one-stop shopping" deal that would place tariffs, defense cost-sharing, shipbuilding and other issues all on the negotiating table. But at the same time, both sides reaffirmed the strength of the alliance and their commitment to advancing the relationship.

Over the past three months, a series of meetings have taken place between the top security officials and diplomats of the two countries, along with other high-level talks.

Just last week, the two countries held their first "two-plus-two" trade talks among the ministers and secretaries under the Trump administration.

The two sides announced an agreement on crafting a "July package" deal, ultimately aiming for the removal of the U.S. levies, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said after the talks in Washington on Thursday, local time.

"The 'July package' suggests that the succeeding government will have the final say in the tariff negotiations," Heo Yoon, a professor at Sogang University, said. "The interim government appears to think that it cannot afford to allow any procedural flaws in the negotiations."

In this vein, one of the incoming leader's top priorities will be to restore high-level engagement with the United States to help reaffirm their alliance under new presidents on both sides.

Former liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is leading the polls as a strong potential presidential front-runner.

Lee is known for his past hard-line remarks about Japan and support for close ties with China. In recent months, however, he has expressed strong support for the U.S. alliance and the trilateral partnership with Japan, in an apparent effort to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.

Attention is being drawn to Han Duck-soo, the prime minister, who has emerged as a potential game-changer for the June election.

Han, former South Korean ambassador to the United States, is considered a top sitting government official with extensive experience in U.S.-related affairs.

Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Apri 24. [NEWS1]

Han has not been clear about whether he will run for the presidency. If he was to run, he has to resign from his post by May 4.

"Rather than pushing things forward hastily, we need to refine our position on what can deliver clear results and ensure the stable management of South Korea-U.S. relations in the long run," Choi of the Asan institute said.

"If the new president — whoever that may be — holds a summit with Trump, the summit should provide reassurance to the Trump administration that the new government is one they can work with," he said.

Yonhap