May 20, 2025
SEOUL – emocratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung said he would not rush any deals with US President Donald Trump on his tariff policies.
At the first televised debate between presidential candidates Sunday, Lee said he does not think the US will stick to the tariff rates that were initially announced. “There will be room for negotiation. We shouldn’t rush into anything,” he said. “I wouldn’t rush any deals.”
People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo, on the other hand, said he would hold talks with Trump at the earliest possible date. Kim said that based on the relationship between South Korea and the US, which is “built on mutual trust and shared values,” he could lead the trade negotiations to success.
Lee said that since Trump took office a second time, more countries were following suit and putting their self-interest first. The principle guiding his trade and foreign policies would be South Korea’s national interests, the Democratic Party candidate said.
Lee said that while trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan was important, South Korea shouldn’t put “all our eggs in one basket.”
“Our relations with China and Russia are also very important,” he said.
Lee said other candidates taking digs at his “xie xie” comments from the campaign trail were a “very inappropriate” attempt to label him “pro-China.”
At a campaign rally on May 13, Lee said that in the event of a possible dispute between China and Taiwan, the role of South Korea was not to get involved with either side.
“So what does it matter to us if Taiwan and China get into a fight? We can say ‘xie xie’ to China, and ‘xie xie’ to Taiwan, and get along with both,” Lee said.
Lee reiterated at the debate that he believes South Korea should keep its distance if there is a China-Taiwan conflict.
“We can get along with both China and Taiwan,” he said.
Pressed to say if he thinks the US could say the same to South Korea in a hypothetical Korean Peninsula conflict, Lee said, “That is an extreme scenario.”
Kim said the surest nuclear deterrence against North Korea was military cooperation with the US.
“We must closely cooperate with the US and create a double, triple line of defense against North Korea,” he said, referring to US troops in South Korea and Japan, as well as strategic assets stationed in Guam.
“Without security, there would be no economy to save,” Kim said.
Lee said that South Korea has responded to North Korean nuclear threats with “conventional military capabilities expanded to the fullest extent possible, backed by the US nuclear deterrent.”
“We should continue on this path, with the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
On energy, Kim said he didn’t agree with the Democratic Party’s nuclear phase-out policy. Lee argued that renewable energy was safer.
Asked about his alleged involvement in the illicit transfers of money to North Korea in 2018, for which he is facing a criminal trial, Lee blamed the prosecutors for wrongfully indicting him.
According to prosecutors, Lee is accused of colluding in sending North Korean authorities some $3 million via underwear maker Ssangbangwool, with the aim of arranging a trip to North Korea.
“The prosecutors went too far in indicting me in this case,” Lee said.
At the debate, Kim was seen once again distancing himself from former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who left the People Power Party on Saturday.
Asked to comment on Yoon’s short-lived martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, Kim said if he had known about the former president’s intentions beforehand, he would have tried to stop him.
Kim has apologized to the South Korean people for Yoon’s martial law decree, saying “dialogue and compromise, not martial law,” are what make democracy work.