South Korean officials say they hope such working-level trade negotiations will largely be left for other meetings.
“There are many major topics in the security field,” Lee’s top policy aide, Kim Yong-beom, said on Wednesday. “Our position is that trade was already finalised last time. We hope that specific implementation plans for trade won’t be included in the summit at all, or at least should be kept simple if discussed.”
Several top officials, including the foreign minister, rushed to Washington over the weekend to try to iron out final details.
Lee, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, will highlight some of South Korea’s expected investments when he visits a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by the country’s Hanwha Group after the summit. Cooperation to help the ailing US shipbuilding sector is part of the broad tariff agreement reached between the countries.
Trump is expected to pressure Lee to commit to more spending on defence, including potentially billions of dollars more toward the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea.
Wi Sung-lac, Lee’s top security adviser, said South Korea was in talks with Washington on Seoul’s higher defence spending, taking as a reference NATO’s agreement on a big new defence spending target. Wi added that the government was also looking into a plan for the purchase of American weapons.
Duyeon Kim, from the Center for a New American Security, said to avoid any public splits, the leaders should focus on reaffirming long-standing alliance principles and broadly agreeing to expand cooperation in all areas.
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