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Trump no doubt understands that nice words don't overturn a lifetime of behavior. Instead, maybe Lee and others like him mean what they say behind the soothing language intended for Western governments.

Better to look at Lee's new Prime Minister Kim Min Seok .

Kim was a Seoul University radical student leader in the 1980s and joined the illegal occupation of the Seoul American Cultural Center in 1985. He was jailed for three years due to his anti-state and pro-North Korea activities. The Americans once refused to give him a visa, and he is said to have claimed that the Americans were behind Covid.

And consider Jung Chung Ra e, the head of Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party of Korea. He led the 1989 occupation of the US Ambassador's residence in Seoul and spent two years in prison. He is still a hard-core radical.

And there are a few things that ought to really resonate with Trump.

Lee's regime is persecuting former President Yoon and his wife. Both are imprisoned and under harsh conditions. The intention, it seems, is to break – if not kill – one or both. And also intimidate the political opposition.

Lee is doing to the Yoons what a cabal of US Democrats tried to do to Trump and his family for standing up for Americans against the domination of the bi-coastal elites.

Lee's and his party's broader objective is one-party rule forever. Part of the strategy is to manipulate the electoral process.

South Korean citizens facing intimidation and lawsuits uncovered substantial evidence of widespread electoral irregularities in the recent June 2025 presidential election (as they did for elections in 2020 , 2022, and 2024.)

The evidence has never been examined. Instead, the party, which dominates both the National Assembly and the media, declares it all“baseless conspiracy theories.”

Did anyone at the US Embassy, State Department or the White House even examine the evidence ? Or meet with the citizen groups? Apparently not.

And, recently, South Korean police raided the offices of the new political party, Freedom and Innovation Party, headed by respected former Prime Minister and acting President Hwang Kyo Ahn. His offense: promoting the idea of honest elections.