G7 summit marks Lee's first major diplomacy test as he seeks balance with U.S. and China

Home > National > Diplomacy

G7 summit marks Lee's first major diplomacy test as he seeks balance with U.S. and China

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 18:48 Updated: 11 Jun. 2025, 10:05

SEO JI-EUN
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks over the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on June 10. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

[NEWS ANALYSIS]

President Lee Jae-myung faces a high-stakes week of diplomacy after completing phone calls with the heads of states seen as the axis of Korea’s foreign relations: the United States, Japan and China.

The most recent conversation — with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday — followed earlier calls with U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

While the sequence of calls drew interest, the alliance with the United States remains at the center of attention. The timing and tone of Lee’s phone call with Trump have fueled speculation in Seoul over whether the two allies are in sync, especially as tariff disputes and defense cost-sharing loom large.

Lee is expected to hold his first face-to-face meeting with Trump as early as next week on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada, offering a high-stakes opportunity to reset relations and clarify priorities.

Korean President Lee Jae-myung, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump [EPA/YONHAP]

A delayed call and strategic silence from Washington

Trump and Lee spoke on Friday, three days after the new Korean president’s inauguration — later than is typical for incoming South Korean leaders.

Seoul promptly released details of the call, describing a warm exchange that included shared experiences and even golf. But Washington remained silent, issuing no formal statement or social media post from Trump himself.

“It is hard not to interpret the Trump administration's handling of this as keeping its distance from President Lee at this point,” Evans Revere, former U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

He added that the administration may be “laying down a marker" with Seoul on China policy and is waiting to see how the new Korean government will handle the many issues now on the bilateral agenda.

U.S. President Trump's social media on June 6, before and after his call with Korean President Lee Jae-myung, show him urging Fed rate cuts and touting tariff-driven job gains. The call's details, however, are not posted. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Choi Jong-kun, a professor at Yonsei University and former first vice foreign minister under the Moon Jae-in administration, called the silence “odd,” while taking it as a possibly positive sign.

In past interactions with Korean leaders, Trump often used statements after calls to press his agenda. For instance, after speaking with then-acting President Han Duck-soo, Trump went onto his Truth Social account and tied trade and security issues together as a “package deal.”

“If the call had gone badly [for Korea,] Trump would have said something," Choi said. "That he didn’t may be a positive signal."

Adding to the unease was a White House statement following Lee's election.

While it acknowledged Korea's “free and fair” election, it also highlighted concerns about alleged Chinese “interference and influence” in democracies worldwide — remarks critics saw as indirectly casting doubt on Korea's democratic integrity.

Revere called the statement “unusually cold” and “tone-deaf,” while Choi said it had the nuance of "disparaging our democracy," noting that such allegations primarily come from far-right circles or conspiracy theorists.

“In that context, it is odd that the White House would wish to associate itself with such ideas,” Revere said.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the China comments as unrelated to the election outcome. Officials pointed instead to a subsequent statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who congratulated Lee and reaffirmed the strength of the “ironclad” nature of the alliance.

The China question and diplomatic balancing act

Lee’s foreign policy faces a classic dilemma: balancing growing U.S. demands for alignment against China with Korea’s need to maintain economic ties with its largest trading partner.

In Tuesday’s call with Xi, Lee expressed hope for “active cooperation in various fields including economy, security and cultural exchange,” and invited Xi to the APEC summit in Gyeongju later in autumn.

Lee has made clear that while he values the U.S. alliance, he also wants “good relations” with Beijing and is reluctant to take a hard line on issues like Taiwan that could provoke China. Lee argues that overt antagonism toward China "serves neither Korea’s national interests nor its alliance with Washington," advocating a pragmatic approach of cooperation with Beijing where possible. This stance marks a subtle shift from the policy of Lee’s impeached predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who had aligned closely with the United States on countering China.

Philip Goldberg, a former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, said in a recent seminar in Washington that the Trump administration will be looking for a more aligned Korea on China policy, as was the case under the previous president. He warned that Lee faces a “real challenge” in stabilizing relations with China while meeting Washington’s expectations for solidarity against Beijing’s influence.

At the same seminar, Harry Harris, another former U.S. envoy to Seoul, cautioned that Lee will have to contend with an “aggressive China” testing Korea’s interests — for example, Chinese military maritime activities near the Korean Peninsula — even as he tries to avoid antagonizing Beijing.

“That’s going to be the difficult maneuver for President Lee — how to try to stabilize relations with China at the same time that they respond to that Trump administration desire for a more aligned policy on China,” Goldberg added.

The Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Alberta, Canada, where the G7 Leaders meeting will take place from June 15 to 17. [AP/YONHAP]

G7 debut: Symbolic optics, real stakes

Next week’s G7 summit in Canada will be Lee’s first multilateral stage — and possibly his first in-person meeting with Trump. Seoul hopes the encounter will stabilize alliance optics and open channels to address pending issues like steel and aluminum tariffs and cost-sharing for U.S. troops in Korea.

While Korea's participation in next week's G7 summit is a significant opportunity, Choi cautioned against reading too much into Seoul's attendance.

The participation should be viewed as a “stage to announce that Korea's democracy has recovered and diplomacy is back," Choi said.

Revere similarly described the G7 as "a logical and timely way to debut on the international diplomatic stage,” offering Lee an opportunity to “reassure" the members about the direction he intends to take the country.

While any meeting with Trump is likely to be short — 10 to 15 minutes — it will be closely watched for tone, body language and signals of alignment.

“Rather than raising expectations too high, it’s important to deliver the necessary message clearly,” Choi said.

Drawing on his experience arranging calls between Moon and Trump, Choi said Lee faces “two main tasks” in his initial meetings: he needs to reaffirm the importance of the alliance and show that Korea is back diplomatically.

Revere said Lee’s task is to “establish a good personal relationship with Trump, underscore the centrality of the Korea-U.S. alliance, and assure Trump of Korea's commitment to doing all it can in response to shared security challenges.”

“There is evidence that Trump may not fully appreciate [the alliance's importance to U.S. security],” Revere added. “All the more reason for President Lee to emphasize it.”

Analysts agree that building personal rapport with Trump is crucial, especially given the U.S. president’s transactional style.

Lee already attempted to flatter Trump during their phone call, bonding over golf and joking about their shared experiences surviving assassination attempts.

Choi observed that Trump tends to view relations through transactional lenses — like the counterpart's trade surplus or domestic approval ratings. In that context, Choi suggested, Lee’s own hard-won election victory might resonate with Trump.

"Having won a tough election after a failed coup attempt may even earn him a plus,” Choi said, referring to Yoon's botched declaration of martial law last December.

Yoon Young-kwan, a former foreign minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration and current chairman of the Seoul-based think tank Asan Institute for Policy Studies, also emphasized the importance of forging a personal bond between the two leaders, particularly given Trump’s preference for trust-based, interpersonal diplomacy.

“If President Lee can identify shared, humanizing themes — like assassination attempts and golf stories they touched on during their call — that foster a sense of personal connection, it could help build mutual trust,” Yoon said. “Creating that atmosphere of reliability between them could smooth the way for resolving tough bilateral issues at the working level.”

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]