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Foreign affairs adviser to Lee Jae-myung holds anomalous meeting with White House

Published: 09 May. 2025, 14:26

Kim Hyun-chong, former second deputy director of the National Security Office, explains the outcome of his meeting with Donald Trump administration officials to reporters at the White House in Washington on May 8. [YONHAP]

Kim Hyun-chong, the former second deputy director of the National Security Office and current adviser on foreign affairs, security and trade for Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), visited the White House in Washington on Thursday to meet with officials from the Donald Trump administration.

Such a visit to meet with White House officials by Kim in his capacity as a foreign affairs and security adviser to Lee is highly unusual for an aide to a specific presidential candidate, with less than a month to go before the election.

“From the perspective of candidate Lee Jae-myung and the DP, the Korea-U.S. alliance is extremely important and should be strengthened and upgraded as much as possible," Kim told reporters after his White House meeting. "We also believe that trilateral cooperation among Korea, the United States and Japan needs to be reinforced.”

This was interpreted as a message mindful of concerns in Washington political circles about whether a Lee administration might change the direction of trilateral security cooperation pursued by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

"We must strengthen our cooperation with Japan,” said Kim. “I believe Korea and Japan should cooperate at a level comparable to the alliance between the Choshu Domain and Satsuma Domain in the past,” referring to how the Choshu and Satsuma Domains, once rivals, formed the so-called Satcho Alliance in 1866 to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, implying that the current governments of Seoul and Tokyo must cooperate in the same way.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, left, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya pose for a photo during a trilateral meeting on the margins of the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Feb. 15. [MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS]

“From the U.S. perspective, trilateral cooperation among Korea, the United States and Japan is very important,” said Kim. “I conveyed to U.S. officials that Lee intends to maintain the cooperative relationship between Korea and the United States.”

“As an ally and a country with whom Korea has an FTA, we emphasized that the issue of tariffs on auto parts in particular must be resolved at a level we can understand and accept,” said Kim, regarding tariff issues. "About 67 percent of Korea’s trade surplus with the United States comes from automobiles and auto parts, so we stressed their importance.”

As for the Trump administration's proposed 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on Korea, Kim said it is "the highest tariff rate among FTA partner countries,” and said he asked U.S. officials whether the policy "is the correct choice." He added that imposing a 25 percent item-specific tariff on automobiles and steel despite the FTA — which allows for tariff-free trade — constitutes a double penalty from Korea’s perspective and therefore must be abolished.

Vehicles move along the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV assembly line at the General Motors Orion Assembly in Lake Orion, Michigan, on June 15, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]

When asked whether he suggested slowing the pace of trade consultations due to the upcoming Korean presidential election, Kim answered, “The 90-day grace period for the retaliatory tariffs ends on July 6. I said we might need more time,” and added, “The U.S. side nodded.”

Regarding North Korea policy, he said, “Yesterday, [North Korea] launched a short-range ballistic missile, and we share the same view with the United States in condemning this,” adding, “It violates UN Security Council resolutions, and we hope North Korea refrains from such launches.” He went on to say, “Personally, I believe that we must also bolster our asymmetrical conventional weapons so we can respond when necessary.”

During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, Kim led the South Korea-U.S. FTA negotiation team as trade minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Under the Moon Jae-in administration, he served as trade minister at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, second deputy director of the National Security Office, and special adviser for Foreign Affairs and National Security to the President. He was announced as a recruited talent for the DP on Feb. 7 and was subsequently appointed as foreign affairs and security adviser to then-party leader Lee.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM HYOUNG-GU [[email protected]]