South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office confirmed on Tuesday that he recently started playing golf, for the first time in eight years, in preparation for upcoming meetings with US President-elect Donald Trump.
South Korean media said Yoon visited a golf course on Saturday to practice a sport his office said he last practiced in 2016.
“A lot of people close to President Trump… (told me) that President Yoon and Trump would have good chemistry,” Yoon said at a news conference on Thursday, after congratulating Trump by phone on his victory.
He added that former Trump administration officials and influential Republicans have offered to help build relations with the next president.
Analysts said Yoon may seek to find a way to leverage his personal friendship with Trump to advance Seoul’s interests as Trump’s “America First” foreign policy plans and his unpredictable style in his second term emerge.
South Korean companies rely heavily on trade with the United States, and during Trump’s first term, the countries clashed over sharing the costs of the approximately 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Officials in Seoul are working to prepare for a major economic change, while Yoon on Sunday called for government and industry talks to prepare for Trump’s return.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea specialist at King’s College London, said the similar personalities and outward styles of Trump and Yoon might help them get along.
“I also think Yoon is generally liked by US policymakers, which will help him, whoever advises Trump on foreign policy,” he added.
Bruce Klingner, of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, agreed that the two countries could develop a strong relationship, but warned that it may not be enough to spare South Korea negative influences.
“While many leaders seek to replicate the friendship that Shinzo Abe had with Trump, there is no evidence that the personal relationship led to any tangible and clear benefits for Japan,” the former CIA analyst added, referring to the assassinated former Japanese prime minister. minister.
He added that Tokyo was treated in the same way as Seoul in the controversial talks on sharing military costs.