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From Abe's Korea 'warmth' to '40,000' USFK troops, Trump shoots from the hip in summit

Published: 26 Aug. 2025, 21:35 Updated: 26 Aug. 2025, 21:50

Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump chat in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25. The two leaders held their first bilateral summit, followed by a working lunch. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

U.S. President Donald Trump repeated a series of perceivably misleading claims during the Korea-U.S. summit in Washington on Monday, including remarks about Korea’s domestic politics, history and U.S. Forces Korea.

Two hours before the summit, Trump wrote on his Truth Social account: "WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there."

He also said ahead of a signing ceremony that he "did hear that from intel that there was a raid on churches."

"I am sure it's a misunderstanding, but you know, there is a rumor going around about churches," he said to Lee during the summit.

When his Korean counterpart referred to the special counsel investigating ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law, Trump interjected, “Is his name 'deranged' Jack Smith, by any chance?" — referring to the prosecutor who investigated him.

Trump also cited Chinese President Xi Jinping when discussing Korea’s history.

“Well, I know it as two Koreas. And […] you know, there was one Korea," Trump said. "It was a powerful country and went to war with China. President Xi explained it, went to war with China many times over the last 2000 years. You had many... I think he told me 51 times."

In April 2017, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that Xi had said Korea "used to be a part of China," a remark that sparked controversy at the time.

Trump also addressed historical disputes between Seoul and Tokyo on Monday, raising the issue of wartime sexual slavery.

“I had a little bit of a hard time getting you two together because you're still thinking about comfort women," he said. "It was a very big problem for Korea, not for Japan. Japan was wanting to go. They want to get on, but Korea was very stuck on that […] But Japan wants to do it, I can say. Korea is a little bit more tenuous."

Trump also spoke about former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"If you look at Prime Minister Abe, who was a great man," Trump said. "He was a great friend of mine, and he was assassinated, but he felt very warmly toward your country."

During the 50-minute summit, which was broadcast live, Trump made additional inaccurate claims.

"We have the greatest amount of energy in the world and we're dealing with South Korea, as you know, in Alaska," Trump said. "We're going to be making a deal, a joint venture with South Korea. Japan is involved also, very strongly involved."

But Korea has not announced participation in the Alaska LNG project, though it recently signaled interest in purchasing U.S. LNG during tariff negotiations.

Trump also mischaracterized his meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“We even had a press conference. He had his first press conference,” Trump said. "And you know what, he did great. It was a great press conference."

Trump and Kim, however, did not hold a joint press conference, although the two held three summits between 2018 and 2019.

Kim has stood alongside other leaders, though, including at the 2018 inter-Korea summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the 2023 North Korea-Russia summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump also repeated an inflated figure for U.S. troop levels in Korea, saying "over 40,000" soldiers instead of the actual 28,500.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK HYUN-JU [[email protected]]