South Korea's new president, Lee Jae-myung, will face a pivotal moment on Monday when he meets US President Donald Trump in Washington for their first summit, as the countries' decades-old alliance strains to confront rapid geopolitical changes.
Much is riding on the meeting for Lee, who took office in June after a snap election called after his conservative predecessor - feted in Washington for his hard line on North Korea - was removed for attempting to impose martial law.
South Korea's economy relies heavily on the US, with Washington underwriting its security with troops and nuclear deterrence. Lee hopes to chart a balanced path of cooperation with the US, while not antagonising top trade partner China.
As he headed to the US, Lee sent a special delegation to Beijing, which delivered a message calling for normalised relations with China that have been strained in recent years.
South Korea has long come under targeted criticism from Trump, who has called it a "money machine" that takes advantage of American military protection.
Lee will seek to make a good impression, connect personally with Trump, and above all, avoid any unpleasant surprises, analysts said.
"For Lee, a no-news summit I think would be good," said Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
As part of his preparations for the summit, Lee told reporters during his flight to Washington that he had read "Trump: The Art of the Deal".
Under heavy pressure from Trump's administration, South Korean negotiators secured a last-minute deal last month to avoid the harshest of new US tariffs, but they must still hammer out details of billions of dollars in promised investments in the United States.
Investment at US shipyard
South Korean officials say they hope such working-level trade negotiations will largely be left for other meetings.
"There are many major topics in the security field," Lee's top policy aide, Kim Yong-beom, said last week. "Our position is that trade was already finalised last time. We hope that specific implementation plans for trade won't be included in the summit at all, or at least should be kept simple if discussed."
Several top officials, including the foreign minister, rushed to Washington over the weekend to try to iron out final details.
Lee, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, will highlight some of South Korea's expected investments when he visits a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by the country's Hanwha Group after the summit.
Cooperation to help the ailing US shipbuilding sector is part of the broad tariff agreement reached between the countries.
