Wi Sung-lac (left), national security adviser to President Lee Jae Myung, enters the briefing room of the presidential office on Wednesday. (Yonhap) Seoul and Washington have found common ground on holding a bilateral summit between South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump at an early date, according to Lee’s security advisor on Wednesday.
This follows the United States’ notifying South Korea on Monday that it was among 14 countries which had failed to reach a deal on tariff and non-tariff matters and therefore would be subject to a steep hike of import duties on imports to the US.
Wi Sung-lac, director of the presidential National Security Office, briefed reporters Wednesday evening after returning from the US. He said he had met with White House National Security Adviser Marco Rubio and proposed a Korea-US summit be held in the near future “to expedite the process of reaching mutually beneficial agreements on various pertaining issues.”
“Rubio also expressed his agreement,” Wi said, adding the two agreed to continue to communicate closely in the future and discuss pending issues between Korea and the US and ways to develop the alliance.
When asked about the possible date for the formal meeting between Lee and Trump, Wi said the two countries had “stopped short of reaching a specific date,” adding that the ideal timing for the summit would be when a consensus was reached regarding the range of matters to discuss.
Wi revealed that he had met Rubio, who also serves as the US Secretary of State, and Allison Hooker, undersecretary of state for political affairs.
Wi said the meetings did not address the possibility of renegotiating a defense cost-sharing agreement, and therefore ruled out chances of renegotiation.
However, matters of national security, such as the chances of Seoul increasing its defense spending, are being negotiated within the broader perspective of bilateral relations, Wi added.
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