Trump's 2nd term as an acting president...a diplomatic examination table

[Anchor]
The Korean government will mark the launch of the second Donald Trump administration as an acting president.

There are concerns that it is not easy to properly respond to Trump's offensive, such as pressure on defense costs, as well as concerns about "Korea passing" in which South Korea is excluded due to bilateral diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

Reporter Park Hee-jae reports.

[Reporter]
Trump claimed earlier this month that NATO and NATO members should spend 5% of their defense spending on GDP.

This is significantly higher than the current guideline of 2%.

As for our country, we have argued that 14 trillion won, nine times more than the amount we will pay next year, should be paid as contributions to defense costs.

[Donald Trump / Then U.S. Presidential Candidate (October 16 last year): I spoke to Korea. 'I'm sorry, but I have to pay for the defense. 45,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. Korea has become a very rich country, and they say. "No, no, no."]

Trump, who has accumulated experience in power and has even taken control of Congress, is likely to make it an issue at an earlier time.

The same goes for the promotion of dialogue with North Korea and its trade policy.

However, Korea, an acting system, is on alert for diplomacy with the United States.

In particular, Trump prefers a "top-down" negotiation method, in which the leaders decide and coordinate their working-level contents below.

First of all, the government has been pushing for a phone call between Acting President Choi Sang-mok and President Trump since the inauguration.

It means that we will continue to communicate.

During the 2017 Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, he spoke with President Trump on the phone twice, but the talks failed to take place.

In addition to Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol's visit to the United States, consultations are also underway for high-level communication between South Korea and the United States.

The Trump administration is focusing on bilateral diplomacy between North Korea and the U.S. and plans to prepare for trade issues as well as the possibility of "Korea passing" excluding South Korea.

[Choi Sang-mok / Acting President (last 16th): We will establish a full-fledged consultation channel with the new U.S. government early on, and the public and private sectors will mobilize external cooperation to seek the stable development of the Korea-U.S. alliance.]

However, it is unclear how seriously Trump will take our government's voice at a time when political uncertainty is high.

Experts say it is necessary to use every channel to communicate our logic to Trump and present cooperative ideas that may interest him.

I'm Park Heejae of YTN.

Reporter for filming
: Ko Min-cheol
Video editing: Seo Young-mi
Graphic: Baek Seungmin