Blue House launches dedicated working group to prepare for Lee-Trump golf meeting

[Financial News] The Blue House has formed a working group and begun preparations for a golf meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to political sources on the 13th, the Blue House formed the working group around the end of last month, shortly after President Lee’s trip to the United States and Mexico. The move followed President Trump’s instruction to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at the South Korea-U.S. summit on the 23rd of last month to arrange a golf outing with President Lee.
President Trump promised to play golf with President Lee and his wife at a dinner during the Group of Seven (G7) summit last June. At last month’s summit, he also said, “How is the First Lady doing? We should play a round of golf sometime.”
The working group, headed by Presidential Secretary for Protocol Kwon Hyuk-gi, includes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Security Service, the National Security Office, the Office of the Presidential Secretary for Protocol, and the Office of the Presidential Secretary for Culture and Sports. It is reported to have already held one in-person meeting.
The working group is reviewing past golf meetings between President Trump and other world leaders and preparing plans for how the event might proceed. The possibility of the meeting taking place in connection with the Group of 20 (G20) summit, scheduled to be held in Miami this December, has also been raised.
Once the schedule is finalized, the plan is to seek advice on attire and other matters from the Korea Golf Association and others in the sports community. Given that President Trump often wears a cap bearing “USA,” President Lee is also considering wearing one with “KOR” or the Taegeukgi emblazoned on it.
President Trump has previously held golf meetings with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, among others. Japanese professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama joined the round with former Prime Minister Abe in 2017, while Gary Player accompanied President Trump at his meeting with President Stubb last year.
There is speculation that a professional golfer could also take part in a meeting between the South Korean and U.S. presidents. Pak Se-ri and Lydia Ko are among those being mentioned as candidates.
During his visit to South Korea in 2019, President Trump met Pak Se-ri and said, “I’d like to play a round of golf (together) sometime.” In 2024, while congratulating Lydia Ko on winning gold at the Paris Olympics, he mentioned having met her at his golf course in Scotland in 2015.

[email protected] Seong Seok-woo Reporter