South Korean President's team feared a "Zelensky moment" at meeting with Trump

South Korea's new president, Lee Jae-in, said that his team feared a repeat of the "Zelenskiy moment" during their first meeting with US leader Donald Trump on August 25. His words are quoted by the newspaper Politico.

On Monday evening, Lee said that his staff feared that "we might face a Zelenskiy moment" during his first meeting with Trump. The reason was the US president's harsh posts on social media, where he questioned democracy in South Korea.

But Lee said his meeting with the US leader "exceeded my expectations." The South Korean president added that he deepened his understanding with Trump, received support, and that their meeting went beyond the allotted time .

South Korea's president, elected in June, said he was confident before meeting with Trump that he "will not face the kind of situation" his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy faced earlier this year, referring to the public spat in the Oval Office.

"That's because I read President Trump's book, The Art of the Deal," Lee said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

On Monday morning, Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social: "What's going on in South Korea? It looks like a purge or a revolution. We can't stand it and we can't do business there. I'm meeting with the new president at the White House today. Thank you for your attention to this issue".

He then told the press that he had "heard bad things" about the domestic political situation in the country.

But Lee said on Monday night that the two leaders focused their conversation on strengthening economic ties between the United States and South Korea, as well as how to "modernize our bilateral alliance to be more reciprocal and future-oriented in line with the changing security situation.".

• On February 28, Zelenskyy arrived at the White House for talks with Trump. However, during a conversation in the Oval Office between Zelenskyy and Trump, a dispute took place.
• Later it became known that Zelenskyy left the White House.
• World leaders after the dispute between Zelenskyy and Trump expressed support for Ukraine.