President Lee Jae Myung has long pushed for stronger homegrown defences, yet Donald Trump’s move has sparked alarm in some quarters At their first summit , in August last year, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung told Donald Trump: “If you, Mr President, become the peacemaker, then I will assist you as the pacemaker.” The remark at the Oval Office captured the thrust of Lee’s approach to the North: dial down the military posturing and make repeated peace overtures to revive dialogue, even if they have been consistently rejected by Pyongyang largely over Seoul’s insistence on denuclearisation. Continue reading...