Lee Jae Myung leaves G7 with Trump pen after North Korea talks

Lee Jae Myung came home from the G7 with a souvenir that doubled as a diplomatic signal: Donald Trump’s pen. The exchange capped a 90-minute conversation between the South Korean president and the U.S. president at a leaders’ dinner in Evian-les-Bains, where North Korea, South Korea-U.S. relations and the tone of the alliance all came into view.

South Korean officials said Lee and Trump spoke several times during the June 15 to 17 summit in France, including at an official dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. Lee attended as an invited partner, not a G7 member, and his office later said he asked Trump to take the lead in pursuing a peaceful resolution to tensions on the Korean peninsula while group photos were being taken.

The symbolism was hard to miss. Trump handed Lee the pen he had been using to sign documents at the summit, echoing a similar moment at a White House meeting in August 2025, when Trump reportedly asked for and received the pen Lee had used to sign the guestbook. Lee also suggested Trump may have remembered that earlier exchange, while South Korean reports said Trump raised the possibility of playing golf with Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung.

Behind the optics, the two sides discussed matters that go well beyond personal chemistry. Lee’s office said the leaders talked about shipbuilding and broader cooperation involving South Korea, the United States and Japan, a sign that defense industrial policy remains part of the conversation as much as nuclear diplomacy. South Korean officials also said Lee congratulated Trump on the recent ceasefire deal with Iran and stressed the importance of free and secure navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

For Seoul, the meeting mattered because any hint of warmth comes after years in which relations with Washington have been strained by tariffs and defense-cost sharing. Trump also expressed a commitment to playing a role in advancing Korean Peninsula issues, according to South Korean officials, giving Lee some basis to frame the encounter as more than a photo opportunity.

The historical backdrop is familiar. Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times in his first term, in Singapore on June 12, 2018, in Hanoi on February 27-28, 2019, and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone on June 30, 2019. The Hanoi summit ended without a deal, and diplomacy stalled after that, which is why Lee’s pen exchange may signal a reset in tone, but not yet a clear shift in policy.