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.

At a summit meeting in Washington, D.C. on Monday, the U.S. and South Korean presidents will discuss modernizing their 71-year-old alliance and fleshing out a trade deal reached last month.

As South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung prepares to meet his American counterpart Donald Trump, he would face his first major foreign policy test, i.e. balancing ties with the US and China