Moon, Trump, Abe Meet at Lotte Hotel in New York

President Moon Jae-in met with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Thursday. 

The hotel is owned by Lotte, which has fallen victim to a Chinese boycott for giving up a golf course in southern Korea for the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S.

Government officials here said the venue was "not intentional." But the trilateral meeting focused on putting more pressure on China to rein in its ally North Korea. 

Trump is staying at the hotel while he attends the UN General Assembly instead of using his own Trump International Hotel in the city.

The hotel has been used as the official quarters of the White House since former U.S. President Barack Obama stayed there to attend the UN General Assembly in 2015.

Previous U.S. presidents stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, but Obama dropped it when it was bought by China's Anbang Insurance Group for US$1.95 billion in 2014. There was speculation that the White House worried about wiretapping.

Lotte Group bought the 130-year-old New York Palace Hotel for $850 million in 2015 and added its name to it.