In Asia, Trump to warn North Korea but not likely visit DMZ
NEW YORK — For all of President Donald Trump’s talk about North Korea’s Kim Jung Un and the country’s nuclear program, Trump will likely not make the customary presidential visit to the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea known as the Demilitarized Zone during his 12-day trip to Asia next month.
Trump, who will stop in five nations on his first presidential trip to Asia, has derided Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatened to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea if its leaders do not abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions.
The White House said Monday that Trump was invited by Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Camp Humphreys, a military base about 40 miles south of Seoul, and that time constraints would likely not permit Trump to also travel to the border. In briefing reporters, the White House played down the notion that the decision stemmed from security concerns about a border visit and suggested that plans still could change.
If Trump doesn’t go, he would be breaking from recent presidential custom. All presidents but one since Ronald Reagan have made the visit to the DMZ, which has separated the North and South for 64 years. Often wearing bomber-style jackets and flanked by military officers, presidents have used binoculars to peer at the barren strip of land at the 38th parallel and delivered forceful remarks denouncing the threat posed by the rogue regime.
Vice President Mike Pence visited the DMZ in April and said his trip let North Koreans “see our resolve in my face.”
Trump has not been shy about slamming Kim, whether on Twitter or from the rostrum of the United Nations. But his language has done little to deter the North Korean dictator, who has launched repeated missile tests, including some that have flown over Japan. A number of the United States’ Asian allies have nervously watched the drama unfold and called for a peaceful resolution.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore stood next to Trump in the Rose Garden on Monday and spent much of his remarks praising the United States and the president but also delicately advocated for diplomacy.
“There is no quick and easy solution,” Lee said. “Pressure is necessary but so is dialogue.”
George H.W. Bush is the only president not to visit the DMZ since Reagan toured the border zone in 1983, though he did make his own trip while serving as vice president. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, visited during a 2012 trip to Seoul and told troops stationed at the border that “the contrast between South Korea and North Korea could not be clearer, could not be starker, both in terms of freedom but also in terms of prosperity.”