South Korean President Lee Jae Myung meets Trump at G7, urges peace talks with North Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the Group of Seven summit in Evian‑les‑Bains, France, as an invited partner. During a leaders’ dinner he held a roughly 90‑minute conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, after which Trump handed Lee the pen he had been using to sign summit documents and proposed a joint golf outing.

Lee asked Trump to take the lead in achieving a peaceful resolution of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, comparing the role to Trump’s recent involvement in the Iran‑U.S. memorandum. Trump responded that he would work toward a resolution. The two also discussed mutually beneficial cooperation, including shipbuilding and trilateral coordination with Japan, as well as broader trade issues such as South Korea’s steel exports to the European Union.

Lee’s European tour included meetings with EU leaders on security, energy and supply‑chain matters, but the most closely watched moment of the summit was the personal rapport with Trump and the diplomatic signal that Lee hopes will ease North‑South relations while keeping the U.S.–South Korea alliance central to his security policy.