President Lee Jae Myung's visit is expected to spotlight trade, alliance costs and North Korea as he seeks to set the tone with Trump's second-term White House.

"I'd like to meet him this year," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he welcomed South Korea's new president, Lee Jae Myung, to the White House for the first time. "I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future."

President Donald Trump is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he told his South Korean counterpart on Monday when they discussed peace in the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang’s nuclear weapon capabilities.