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U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in South Korea on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia tour, facing a complex mix of trade disputes, defence demands and renewed security threats from North Korea.
The visit follows a stop in Japan, where Trump signed a rare earths deal with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and praised Tokyo’s pledge to strengthen its military.
Reuters cited on Wednesday that Trump is due to address a summit of business leaders and meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Gyeongju, a historic city famed for its ancient tombs and palaces.
At the top of the agenda will be the deadlocked trade agreement between the two allies, announced in August to avert higher US tariffs in exchange for South Korea’s promise of $350 billion in new investments in the United States. Officials on both sides have said the two leaders are unlikely to finalise the terms during this visit.
The US president has also pushed Seoul to contribute more towards defence costs, while South Korea is seeking reforms to US immigration rules to allow more workers to support major industrial projects following a raid at Hyundai Motor’s battery plant in Georgia.
Trump’s meeting with Lee is expected to focus heavily on North Korea, which said on Wednesday it had test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile the previous day.
“It is our responsible mission and duty to ceaselessly toughen the nuclear combat posture,” a North Korean official overseeing the test said, according to state news agency KCNA. The launch came a week after Pyongyang’s first ballistic missile test since May.
Trump has repeatedly called for direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his trip, but Pyongyang has made no public response. Kim has previously said he would consider dialogue only if Washington stopped pressing for denuclearisation.
Gyeongju is under tight security ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, but Trump will skip the leaders’ summit later this week, preferring instead to attend the APEC CEO meeting and hold bilateral sessions.
“Trump dislikes large international gatherings and prefers to have one-on-one meetings with key leaders,” said Christopher Padilla, senior adviser at Brunswick Group in Washington. “But while the US steps back, most of the world has continued to work through such institutions, finding them a useful source of cooperation on international problems.”
Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in what is expected to be the most closely watched encounter of his Asia tour. Negotiators from both countries agreed on a framework over the weekend to pause steeper US tariffs and China’s export controls on rare earths, news that sent Asian stocks soaring.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said he was not concerned that Trump would “abandon” the island in his meeting with Xi. Since taking office in January, Trump has shifted his stance on Taiwan as he seeks to secure a trade pact with Beijing.
Trump has claimed that Xi assured him China would not invade Taiwan while he remains in office, though the US president has yet to authorise new arms sales to Taipei.
The South Korea visit concludes a whirlwind regional tour marked by deals and diplomacy. In Malaysia, Trump announced a series of trade pacts at the ASEAN summit and helped broker a truce between Thailand and Cambodia after a border clash.
In Tokyo, he hailed Prime Minister Takaichi’s commitment to defence expansion and signed agreements covering trade, energy and artificial intelligence. Japan earlier pledged $550 billion in strategic investments and financing to secure relief from US tariffs.
Washington has pressed Seoul for a similar financial commitment, but South Korea insists it cannot pay the US$350 billion upfront. Instead, it has proposed a phased plan of investments, loans and other contributions. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Tuesday that a “last-minute concession” from Washington could still pave the way for an agreement. - October 29, 2025