Fatshimetrie —
With many countries anticipating a second Trump term, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is putting together a carefully crafted diplomatic strategy. Indeed, Yoon has reportedly recently resumed playing golf after an eight-year hiatus, preparing for a potential “golf diplomacy” with President-elect Trump, according to information provided to CNN by the president’s office.
Golf has long been an effective means of engaging with Donald Trump. As the financial engine of his business empire, Trump’s golf courses and associated businesses are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as a 2018 CNN investigation revealed. During his first term in 2017, Trump visited more golf courses than any other recent president, spending weekends at his properties in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia, sometimes accompanied by lawmakers or business figures.
It is true that golf has punctuated Trump’s meetings with world leaders. The late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented Trump with gold-plated golf clubs during a visit to his Manhattan tower in November 2016. The two leaders have also played golf together in Florida and Japan.
During his previous term, Trump met several times with former South Korean President Moon Jae-in and held tense talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, going so far as to say that they had fallen “in love.” Golf has also been a key part of the bilateral relationship, with Trump praising Korean golfers and Korea’s affinity for the sport.
Yoon Suk Yeol, however, will face a very different scenario on the Korean Peninsula when Trump returns to power. Tensions over the North Korea threat have raised alarms in the United States and its allies, particularly after Trump’s failed talks with Kim during his previous term.
Yoon’s conservative government, which came to power in 2022, has asserted itself as a strong partner for the United States in strengthening deterrence against North Korea. It is unlikely that they will encourage Trump to meet Kim without a clear plan for Pyongyang’s denuclearization.
Meanwhile, relations between North Korea and Russia have been on the rise, with Pyongyang sending troops and munitions to Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, in what Western leaders see as a major escalation.
The question of whether to keep the 28,500 American troops in South Korea could also become a headache for Yoon once Trump returns to power. While some have argued for a significant U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula to strengthen the alliance between the two countries, Trump has often questioned the amount South Korea is contributing for those troops.
Before Trump’s victory, the two countries reached a new five-year cost-sharing agreement last month for U.S. forces based in South Korea, in an effort to preserve the long-standing alliance ahead of the U.S. election.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s return to golf may thus be the prelude to a complex and pivotal diplomatic period for South Korea in Trump’s second term. Strategic and political stakes in the Asian region may well be shaped by this form of “golf diplomacy” between the leaders of the two nations.