The office of the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, confirmed to reporters on Monday that Yoon has begun practicing his golf game in anticipation of potentially playing with American President-elect Donald Trump.
The Korea JoongAng Daily, citing Yoon’s office, reported that the South Korean leader had once been an avid golfer but had not played in eight years when he resumed his practice following the November 5 American presidential election.
President-elect Trump has been famous for his love of golf for decades and owns over a dozen golf courses around the world. He famously played golf with other world leaders during his first term as president and developed a close relationship with late former Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo through multiple rounds of golf in America and Japan.
Golf also arose as a point of contention in the debate between Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden in June. Trump raised the issue when asked about his advanced age.
“I just won two club championships — not even senior, two regular club championships,” Trump said. “To do that, you have to be quite smart, and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. And I do it. He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”
Biden challenged Trump to play golf but never followed up on the offer. Democrats found Biden’s debate performance so poor that they replaced him on the ballot with Vice President Kamala Harris shortly thereafter.
JoongAng reported on Monday that Yoon was known as an avid golfer while working as a prosecutor but the pastime ultimately gave way to the heavy workload of campaigning and the presidency. The conservative won a bitterly contested race for the Blue House, the South Korean presidential office, in 2022.
“According to the presidential office, this marks the first time in eight years, since 2016, that Yoon has resumed playing golf,” JoongAng reported. “He reportedly began practicing after receiving advice to prepare for interactions with the next U.S. president.”
America and South Korea have for decades maintained a close relationship, and both are still technically embroiled in the Korean War, which began in 1950 and was paused by an armistice, but not a complete peace treaty, in 1953. The United States maintains troops in the country and North Korea, a communist autocracy, regularly threatens to use its illegal nuclear weapons to bomb South Korea and America.
Trump’s relationship with the South was complicated during his first term as president by the fact that the Blue House was occupied by a far-leftist, Moon Jae-in, who pursued a policy of appeasement with communist dictator Kim Jong-un. Yoon, who succeeded Moon, has adopted a dramatically different approach, going as far as to threaten to develop nuclear weapons in South Korea to protect the country from a Northern attack. Yoon was cordial, but not especially close with, outgoing President Joe Biden, who strengthened Washington’s defense posture against North Korea only after Yoon suggested building his own nuclear weapons.
Yoon’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul told reporters on Tuesday that Seoul is enthusiastic about cooperating with the incoming Trump administration
“President-elect Trump’s policy direction, which emphasizes expanding the role of allies and contributing to security, is in line with our vision of a global pivotal nation that will fulfill its role and responsibility appropriate to its national power and status,” Cho explained.
“The free and open Indo-Pacific order and alliances emphasized by Trump are largely consistent with the diplomatic policies of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration,” he continued. “Based on these common policy points, the Foreign Ministry intends to further strengthen cooperation with the coming second Trump administration through detailed policy coordination.”
Cho said he was aware that “many are concerned” about what the Trump administration foreign policy will look like, but Seoul believed “the South Korea-U.S. alliance will be firmly maintained and strengthened.”
Yoon spoke to Trump on Thursday, among the first world leaders to receive a call from the president-elect following Tuesday’s victory. Yoon told reporters that he used the time to congratulate Trump and request an in-person meeting as soon as possible. He also noted that North Korea had become a far more formidable and expansive threat to South Korea and the free world generally during Biden’s time in office.
“When I told him that they [North Korea] have sent 7,000 waste balloons across the border, jammed our GPS systems, and recklessly launched ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] and IRBMs [intermediate-range ballistic missiles], he [Trump] said it was ‘unbelievable,’” Yoon said, according to the left-wing South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh. “We agreed to meet soon to share lots of information and discuss countermeasures.”
Yoon’s principal deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo emphasized in a separate press conference how keen Yoon is to meet with Trump.
“There’s a great need to meet in person and discuss these issues in detail, so President Yoon and President-elect Trump have agreed to set a date and location for a meeting very soon,” Kim asserted.
Yoon is expected to travel to Peru and Brazil this month, departing South Korea on Thursday. Peru is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, while Brazil is hosting the Group of 20 summit. Yoon officials stated this week that they are in “close communication” with the Trump transition team for a potential meeting, but are also potentially planning a meeting with Biden.
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