'What is going on?': Donald Trump turns heat on South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung ahead of meet

TOI Correspondent from Washington: MAGA Supremo Donald Trump's domineering style that has succeeded in overwhelming leaders of most countries was on full display at the White House on Monday when he turned the heat on South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung and softened him up ahead of their meeting.

Shortly before the Oval Office engagement, Trump posted a message on his social media handle that read: “WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there. I am seeing the new President today at the White House. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!” He then told the press that he had “heard bad things” about the domestic political situation in the country.

Spooked by the message, a chastened Lee was soon pawing the ground, flattering Trump and fawning over him as so many leaders have done in the past few weeks, suffering gratituous insults in the process. Trump publicly referred to the issue of "comfort women" -- a deeply sensitive subject in Korea relating to Japanese imperial forces' abusive treatment of Korean and Chinese women in World War II -- suggesting that Japan had moved on from the issue and Korea should too.

Lee later said at a think tank engagement that his staff was worried before the meeting that he might face a "Zelenskyy moment" in the Oval Office (when the Ukrainian President was publicly berated), but he was confident he would not meet the same fate because he had read Trump's Art of the Deal. The upshot was South Korea, besides lavishing praise on Trump, pledged some $ 350 billion of largely unspecified investments in the US in addition to $ 100 billion in energy purchases, in exchange for tariffs being lowered to 15 per cent from the 25 per cent Trump had threatened.

Asked in background conversations why New Delhi could not make similar deals with unspecified investments tied to big headline making numbers that Trump clearly likes to brag about to impress his MAGA faithful, officials say the Indian system does not allow such loose commitments with padded numbers and there is scrutiny and accountability in India.

Still, one official said India had made big commitments on energy purchases, orders for military equipment, and eased some restrictions for agri imports in an effort to bridge the trade deficit that irk Trump. But that was deemed not enough by the mercurial President even thought some of his team members like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seemed eager to move ahead with a deal.

(more to follow, possibly in separate story)