{"id":100181,"date":"2025-08-27T06:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/100181\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T06:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T06:29:10","slug":"signing-pen-at-summit-turns-into-surprise-gift-to-trumps-taste-golf-putter-a-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/100181\/","title":{"rendered":"Signing pen at summit turns into surprise gift to Trump\u2019s taste; golf putter a bonus"},"content":{"rendered":"

When South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stepped into the West Wing of the White House on Monday, he hardly expected a signing pen to steal the spotlight from a summit designed to reset ties with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Yet a casual exchange over a thick brown fountain pen ended up driving shares of Monami Co., Korea\u2019s best-known stationery brand, to the daily limit-up in Seoul trading, although the company didn\u2019t make the pen.<\/p>\n

Lee signed a guest book before entering the Oval Office for\u00a0talks with Trump<\/a>, and the handcrafted wooden fountain pen he used caught the US leader\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

\"The
\nThe golf putter custom-made by Gold five for Donald Trump. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung gave it to Trump as a gift<\/p>\n

\u201cNice pen. Is it yours? Do you want to take it with you?\u201d Trump said, drawing laughter in the room. \u201cI like it. The writing is beautiful, the thickness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee smiled and replied, “It\u2019s Korean.\u201d The president then gestured that Trump should keep it. \u201cIt would be an honor,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The US president, who previously said he didn\u2019t like ballpoints, is known for the bold, thick strokes of his signature.<\/p>\n

The gift was unplanned.<\/p>\n

\"Zenyle
\nZenyle is the penmaker that made the pen used by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to sign the White House guest book<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s aides later clarified that the pen was not an official diplomatic present but a custom-made writing instrument prepared for the Korean president\u2019s own ceremonial use.<\/p>\n

WINDFALL GAINS FOR MONAMI<\/p>\n

The exchange sent shares of Korean penmaker Monami soaring on Tuesday, even though it didn\u2019t make the pen used at the White House.<\/p>\n

Shares in the company, a household name that has produced pens for more than six decades, closed up by the daily limit high of 30% at 2,575 won. On Wednesday morning in Seoul, the stock was trading 13% higher, outperforming the Kospi benchmark index\u2019s 0.1% fall.<\/p>\n

\"A
\nA signing pen, made by Genyle, which South Korean President Lee Jae Myung gave Donald Trump as a gift<\/p>\n

Zenyle Corp., a domestic brand specializing in handcrafted pens, confirmed that it had made the pen used by Lee and coveted by Trump.<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s compliment, Zenyle said it is receiving \u201coverwhelming orders\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a custom-made pen and is not available for sale, nor do we have any plans to make it so,\u201d Zenyle said on its website.<\/p>\n

Crafted over six weeks, the pen used by Lee featured a nib adapted from Monami\u2019s name-pen line and a case engraved with a phoenix and Taegeuk emblem, a symbol of the South Korean national flag.<\/p>\n

\"Ccowboy-style
\nCcowboy-style version of Trump\u2019s signature red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats, made in pairs for both him and First Lady Melania Trump<\/p>\n

GIFT STRATEGY TAILORED TO TRUMP\u2019S TASTES<\/p>\n

The Korean president\u2019s carefully calibrated gift strategy apparently worked, pleasing Trump, analysts said.<\/p>\n

Alongside the pen, Lee presented a custom-made golf putter, produced by Seoul-based workshop Gold Five and engraved with Trump\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Other sets of gifts Lee prepared for Trump were a 30-centimeter model of an ironclad turtle ship symbolizing Korea\u2019s shipbuilding prowess<\/a>, and a cowboy-style version of Trump\u2019s signature red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat, made in pairs for both him and First Lady Melania Trump.<\/p>\n

\"A
\nA model of an ironclad turtle ship symbolizing South Korea\u2019s shipbuilding prowess, which President Lee Jae Myung gave Trump as a gift<\/p>\n

The metal turtle ship was made by HD Hyundai Co.’s master craftsman Oh Jeong-cheol, sources said.<\/p>\n

For his part, Trump reciprocated with a photo album of his recent campaign-trail shooting incident and autographed memorabilia.<\/p>\n

At a post-lunch session, the US president ushered Korean delegates into the White House gift shop to pick out keepsakes, signing golf balls and hats on the spot.<\/p>\n

Write to In-Soo Nam at isnam@hankyung.com<\/a>
Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stepped into the West Wing of the White House on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-100181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}