The US president says it "seems like a Purge or Revolution" in South Korea, as President Lee visits the White House.

South Korea has long come under targeted criticism from Trump, who has called it a "money machine" that takes advantage of American military protection.

Trump elaborated later Monday that he was referring to raids on churches and on a U.S. military base by the new South Korean government, which they “probably shouldn't have done,” the president argued.