Travel pool report #13: Bilat

The delegations sat down to a bilateral meeting/working lunch hosted by the South Korean prime minister at 2:40 pm.

Leavitt, James Blair, Lutnick, Rubio, Bessent, Wiles and Miller are among those seated. POTUS was between Rubio and Bessent.

“We’ve been dealing with very tough negotiators and that’s the way it should be,” POTUS said of the South Koreans, saying there was “great love” between the two nations.

“I know you’re officially at war but we will see what we can do to get that straightened out,” he told the prime minister, a reference to North Korea.

“I didn’t even know there were so many problems,” the president said about his peacekeeping efforts.

“I know Kim Jong Un very well, we get along very well.” POTUS again said his and Kim’s schedules didn’t line up. He repeated that it was “common sense” for the standoff in the Korean Peninsula to end.

He praised Koreans for becoming the “master” of shipbuilding and lamented the decline of shipbuilding in the US.

He praised the arrival ceremony as “perfect” and “flawlessly” done. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that.”

Pool escorted out at 2:53 pm. We are going to be holding during Bilat.

• Clarification - That was obviously “medal” and not “metal” from previous report subject line!

Katie Rogers

White House Correspondent

The New York Times

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