Overview

• North Korea’s KCNA called President Lee a “hypocrite,” reiterated it will not abandon nuclear weapons, and notably stayed silent on President Trump’s stated willingness to meet Kim Jong Un this year.
• The White House meeting produced no joint communiqué, leaving sensitive questions on alliance modernization, strategic flexibility for U.S. forces, defense cost sharing and trade specifics to follow-up talks.
• Korean conglomerates announced an additional $150 billion in U.S. investments as Seoul earmarked $150 billion for a shipbuilding initiative, and Lee capped his trip with a visit to Hanwha Philly Shipyard for a vessel christening.
• A Realmeter poll found 53.1% of South Koreans viewed the summit positively, with respondents citing shipbuilding cooperation, personal rapport and prospects for renewed North Korea diplomacy as areas of progress.
• Lee returned to Seoul after stops in Tokyo and Washington, where he and Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba revived shuttle diplomacy and set the stage for further negotiations with the United States.