Yoon practices golf in preparation for potential game with Trump

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a televised address and press conference marking the second half of his term at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)

As Donald Trump is set to return to the White House for the second time, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is honing an unconventional diplomatic skill: his golf game.

Senior officials familiar with the matter said Monday that the president has picked up golf again after a break of several years, in case it helps him build a rapport with the next US leader.

President-elect Trump's affinity for golf is well-documented. Personally owning about 15 golf courses in the US and elsewhere, his first term was punctuated by frequent retreats to his golf properties.

What particularly catches foreign leaders' attention is Trump's penchant for hammering out major policy decisions between holes. Tapping into this peculiarity proved remarkably successful for the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who played five rounds of golf with Trump, including one just nine days after Trump’s election in 2016.

Now Yoon's aides are prodding him to follow Abe's playbook. They see the fairway as fertile ground for discussing the thorny issues that lie ahead -- everything from Trump's campaign pledge of across-the-board tariffs to his demands that Seoul ramp up its contributions for the cost of stationing US troops in the country.

Yoon isn't exactly known for his golfing prowess.

Presidential officials said this marks his first foray into the sport in eight years. His earlier golfing career as a prosecutor was brief and controversial, including allegations -- which he denies -- of accepting a golf outing from a local construction company in 2011 in exchange for favorable legal treatment. During his 2019 confirmation hearing as prosecutor general nominee, he testified that he had barely touched a golf club since 2010.

Should Yoon hit the links with Trump, he'll join a group of Korean presidents who've used the game for diplomatic ends. The late former President Chun Doo-hwan pioneered this approach in 1981, teeing off with fellow military strongman Suharto in a state visit to Indonesia. More recently, Lee Myung-bak shared rounds with George W. Bush at Camp David in 2008.

Nearing the halfway point of his five-year term and facing his lowest approval ratings yet, Yoon held a press conference on Thursday in which he expressed optimism about working with the reelected Trump. He cited predictions from US Congressional leaders that their similar straight-talking personalities would lead to "good chemistry." Whether that supposed chemistry extends to the golf course, however, remains to be seen.

By Moon Ki-hoon(moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com)