Overview

• Trump said the two leaders would keep last month’s deal unchanged, preserving a 15% U.S. tariff cap on Korean goods in exchange for about $350 billion in Korean investment and $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases.
• Hanwha announced a $5 billion expansion at its Philadelphia shipyard, following Seoul’s allocation of $150 billion for a U.S. shipbuilding initiative and separate pledges of another $150 billion in private FDI across key industries.
• Seoul and Washington agreed in broad terms to pursue “alliance modernization,” with specifics still to be worked out on defense cost-sharing, USFK posture and other sensitive issues.
• North Korea’s KCNA labeled Lee a “hypocrite” and called denuclearization a “vain” hope, reiterating it will not give up nuclear weapons while staying silent on Trump’s openness to meet Kim Jong Un this year.
• A Realmeter poll found 53.1% of South Koreans viewed the summit positively, with respondents citing progress on shipbuilding cooperation, leader-to-leader rapport and renewed diplomacy on the peninsula.