Faso credits Trump for Korean progress

Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso has returned from a weeklong trip to South Korea and says President Donald Trump should be credited for bringing the North and South closer to a functioning relationship.

In a phone interview Monday, the Kinderhook Republican said the trip sponsored by Congressional Study Group was enlightening.

“I came [away] with a much more in-depth understanding of the players and issues as they see them and also a better understanding of how the [South] Koreans are deeply appreciative of the United States and our role for the last 60 years in their country,” he said.

Faso said everyone he spoke with in South Korea agreed there needs to be “complete, verifi-

able, irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea, and they “give strong credit to President Trump for making this a priority and pushing much stronger sanctions” against the North.

And people in the South “credit the Chinese for actually helping to enforce those sanctions” and say that pressure has helped bring North Korean leader

Kim Jong Un to the table.

“People believe [Kim] is a 34-year-old who wants to maintain the family dynasty for the next 40 or 50 years, with himself in charge,” Faso said. “That in order for him to do so, he needs to move his model of their system from the socalled self-reliant system that they have now to one that would be more based on a capitalism with communism system, such as Vietnam’s or China’s.”

Other House members who traveled to South Korea

included Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif., Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Janice Schakowskym D-Ill., and James Sensenbrenner R-Wisc.

“Our purpose as the Congressional Study Group was to better acquaint ourselves with the issues so that we could inform our colleagues,” Faso said.

“It was a broad, well-balanced five days of meetings,” he said. “The overwhelming conclusion that I got from [South] Koreans was a sense of optimism that, this time, it might actually

be different in terms of dealing with the issues with North Korea.”

Faso said the group met with counterparts from the National Assembly of South Korea, corporate leaders, journalists in the country that work for U.S. publications, and government trade representatives.

Faso said the delegation also learned about advances in telecommunications.

“In the discussions we had at Samsung, I was interested in some of the technological

breakthroughs on 5G that they are now expanding with Verizon in the United States,” he said. “From my standpoint, its applicability for rural areas, in terms of expansion of communications and broadband, is highly acute. So I’m going to have some follow-up discussions with them on that.”

On why Kim has agreed to talks with both the South and the United States, Faso said: “There’s a whole series of factors, but the overwhelming factor has been the renewed emphasis by the Trump administration on putting pressure on North Korea and the willingness of the U.S. administration and the Chinese to collaborate.”

Faso said he was not ready to agree with a recommendation by South Korean President Moon Jae-in that Trump be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“That is yet to be determined, based on the outcome of these discussions,” the congressman said. “It’s way too early to say.”