South Korea's Lee Jae Myung narrowly avoided what he called a "Zelenskiy moment" after U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed him to Washington with right-wing conspiracy theories but then pulled off a high-stakes summit without unwanted drama.

Just a few hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was set to enter the White House, a social media post from the US leader threatened to derail the summit.

Mr Trump surprisingly cornered Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House earlier this year. But Mr Lee said his encounter with the president went well “beyond my expectations” and credited this to having read Mr Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal.