In remarks, Trump targets North Korea
In Seoul, president urges talks, then warns, ‘Do not try us’
Instead, at a news conference in South Korea’s capital within range of North Korean artillery, Trump spoke in measured tones and called on North Korea’s ruler to “come to the table and make a deal” to give up its growing nuclear weapons arsenal.
Trump delivered threats as well, calmly listing the firepower the U.S. has pointed at the Korean Peninsula, including three carrier strike groups and a nearby nuclear submarine — as well as “many things happening that we hope, we hope — in fact, I’ll go a step further, we hope to God we never have to use.”
“I do see certain movement, yes,” Trump said at the joint news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “But let’s see what happens.”
On Wednesday, Trump sharpened his message to Kim, declaring that the weapons he’s acquiring “are not making you safer. They are putting your regime in grave danger.”
In a speech delivered hours after he aborted a visit to the heavily fortified Korean demilitarized zone due to bad weather, Trump called on all nations to join forces “to isolate the brutal regime of North Korea — to deny it any form of support, supply, or acceptance.”
“Today, I hope I speak not only for our countries, but for all civilized nations, when I say to the North: Do not underestimate us. And do not try us,” he told South Korean lawmakers. “We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity, and our sacred liberty.”
Earlier, Trump had been scheduled to make an unannounced trip to the DMZ. The Marine One presidential helicopter left Seoul at daybreak and flew most of the way to the DMZ but was forced to turn back just five minutes out due to poor weather conditions.
Before he left for Asia, a White House official had ruled out a DMZ visit for Trump, claiming the president didn't have time on his schedule. But White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the visit had been planned well before Trump’s departure for Asia. The trip was kept secret for security reasons, she said.
Trump’s Tuesday call for a deal with North Korea came five weeks after he publicly dismissed the possibility of diplomacy with North Korea, saying on Twitter that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”
The shift came after a long afternoon of talks and a walk through the woods with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Moon, who was elected promising to make overtures to North Korea, agreed to push forward with plans to purchase more U.S. reconnaissance equipment and larger missile batteries.
Trump went further, touting South Korea’s promise to buy “billions” of dollars’ worth of U.S.-made military equipment as an example of how he was narrowing the trade deficit with Seoul and creating American jobs, although the White House did not provide any figures.
Moon spoke of the “special bond” he has developed with Trump and said he hoped Trump’s visit to the Korean Peninsula “will be a turning point” in the decades-old standoff with North Korea.
Like Trump, Moon called for “maximum pressure” on Kim to convince him to abandon his nuclear weapons program. He said the U.S. and South Korea are “willing to offer North Korea a bright future” in return.
Earlier in the day, Trump ate lunch with South Korean and American troops at Camp Humphreys, the hub for nearly 30,000 U.S. military troops on the peninsula, before he headed to Seoul for talks with Moon.
On streets near the South Korean presidential mansion, called the Blue House for the color of its traditional tiled roof, protesters held signs reading “No Trump” and “No war.”
Inside the Blue House, Moon was effusive in his compliments, congratulating Trump on the Wednesday anniversary of his election victory, the strong U.S. economy and record-high stock market.
“You are already making great progress on making America great again,” he said.
He also praised Trump for putting North Korea “at the top” of his list of security concerns.
Opinion polls show South Korean voters overwhelmingly approve of Moon’s performance in office but are wary of Trump and worried he will start a war.
Moon has shown a willingness to take a harder line on Pyongyang in recent months following a series of ballistic missile tests by the isolate dnation, including two that indicated it has developed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
He faces domestic political pressure to tamp down Trump’s unpredictable and bellicose pronouncements, which have set many South Koreans on edge. Trump’s threat to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U.S. or its allies had to defend itself from an attack, delivered in front of the United Nations General Assembly in September, rattled some politicians in Seoul.
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