SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Lee Jae-myung is pressing a foreign policy reset Saturday that seeks steadier China ties and closer Japan cooperation while insisting the South Korea US alliance remains the backbone of deterrence against North Korea. The balancing act has sharpened since Lee’s June snap-election victory and South Korea’s hosting of APEC in Gyeongju, as Washington presses for higher troop-support payments and a broader regional role for the alliance, Dec. 27, 2025.
At home, Lee has moved quickly to signal a break from his predecessor’s approach. He plans to shift the presidential office back to the traditional Blue House compound, reversing the relocation ordered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office after briefly declaring martial law, according to a Reuters report on Lee’s move back to the Blue House.
Why the South Korea US alliance is under renewed pressure
U.S. demands have tightened the screws on the South Korea US alliance from two directions: money and mission. In August, a Reuters preview of Lee’s first summit with President Donald Trump described Washington’s push for a higher South Korean contribution to the upkeep of about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed on the peninsula, along with internal U.S. discussions about whether some troops could be reduced or repurposed as the alliance looks beyond the Korean Peninsula.
The same report cited analysts who said South Korea already provides more than $1 billion a year in support and helped fund the sprawling Camp Humphreys base. But it also captured a worry in Seoul that openly recasting U.S. Forces Korea as an anti-China tool could invite economic retaliation — a major vulnerability for an export-driven economy still intertwined with Chinese demand and supply chains.
That is part of the logic behind Lee’s outreach to Beijing. In late August, a special delegation delivered a letter from Lee to Chinese President Xi Jinping and said Seoul wanted to “normalise” ties and upgrade economic cooperation while continuing to develop the South Korea US alliance, Reuters reported in Reuters coverage of Seoul’s message to Beijing.
Officials in Seoul still point to a cautionary case from the last decade. After South Korea moved ahead with deploying the U.S. THAAD missile-defense system, Chinese state media raised boycott threats and potential restrictions on South Korean cultural exports, according to a 2017 Reuters report on the THAAD backlash.
APEC gains give Lee leverage with China and Japan
Lee’s reset gained visibility when South Korea hosted APEC‘s leaders meeting in Gyeongju, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. The 2025 APEC Leaders’ Gyeongju Declaration, released at the close of the summit, warned that the global trading system faces serious challenges and urged stronger cooperation on trade, investment and transformative technologies under the theme “Building a Sustainable Tomorrow.”
Hosting APEC also opened space for leader-level diplomacy with Tokyo as both sides try to stabilize ties despite deep historical grievances. Japan’s government said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Lee agreed to promote “shuttle diplomacy” and deepen coordination among Japan, South Korea and the United States, according to Japan’s official readout of their Oct. 30 talks.
The push for trilateral coordination is a clear through line from the Camp David framework, where the leaders of Japan, South Korea and the United States pledged a “duty to consult” during crises in the White House’s 2023 “Commitment to Consult” statement. But the history that complicates cooperation has not vanished: a 2015 agreement meant to resolve the “comfort women” dispute underscored how quickly domestic politics can reopen old wounds, as described in a Guardian account of the 2015 comfort women accord.
For now, Lee is betting he can keep the South Korea US alliance intact while widening South Korea’s diplomatic options. The next tests will come in negotiations over troop costs, the scope of allied planning and how far Seoul can go in repairing ties with Beijing without eroding trust in Washington.
