South Korea

Seoul, September 25, 2026. From the perspective of the South Korean press, the September 24 summit at the White House between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping is seen primarily as a direct follow-up to the summit held a year earlier in South Korea. Local news agencies relentlessly recall that the extended trade truce until January 10 is none other than "the Busan agreement", the agreement concluded in Busan last October, under which Washington suspended its tariff hikes and Beijing froze its restrictions on rare earths. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed to Fox News this two-month extension, without further details on a "new trade arrangement" mentioned by Xi Jinping and deemed by Beijing as "good news for the industries and peoples of both countries".

Yonhap's dispatches, re-released in several successive versions ("2nd LD", "3rd LD", up to a "5th LD"), emphasize the friendly words exchanged during the welcoming ceremony: Trump mentioned a "very great friendship... built on mutual respect", recalling that the two countries had been allies during World War II. But the local press also notes that Trump and Xi discussed the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East, and the war in Ukraine, and that Trump still hopes to meet Kim Jong-un "later this year", on the sidelines of a possible APEC summit.

On artificial intelligence, a disagreement emerges behind the facade of unity: Xi insisted that AI remain "under human control", while Trump called concerns about AI security a "hoax", placing the US Department of Justice as the sole "safeguard". On Taiwan, Xi asked Washington to oppose "Taiwan's independence" and to handle the issue "with caution"; no American response has been leaked. The Korea Times summarizes a summit "heavy on symbolism but light on substance", while Senator Chuck Schumer accuses Trump of an "attraction" to authoritarian leaders. Kim Jong-un, the peninsula, and rare earths remain, for Seoul, the real unresolved issues behind the pandas in Atlanta.