Their meeting, scheduled for later in the day, comes about two months after they first met in Washington, D.C. in August, marking the shortest interval between reciprocal visits by the two leaders.
Lee arrived in Gyeongju the previous day to prepare for the summit, inspecting the venue for the multilateral gathering ahead of Trump's arrival from Tokyo.
Trump, who left Tokyo earlier in the day for the final leg of his Asia trip, which includes a stop in Malaysia, arrived at Gimhae International Airport in the southern port city of Busan.
At their meeting, Lee and Trump are expected to discuss a broad range of economic and security issues to strengthen the bilateral alliance.
In particular, much attention is given to whether the two sides can resolve differences in ongoing tariff-related negotiations, which involve Seoul's pledge last July to invest $350 billion in the U.S. as part of a broader deal to reduce reciprocal tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent.
Earlier, Japan similarly rolled out the red carpet for him with lavish gifts including a gold-coated golf ball tailored to his taste and other gestures of flattery.
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