"Not an Immediate Threat"… Will Trump Pull Out the Withdrawal Card for U.S. Forces Korea?

[Anchor]

Despite North Korea's ballistic missile launch yesterday (the 20th), the United States assessed that it did not pose an immediate threat. This toned-down response is seen as a reflection of President Trump's strong will to pursue North Korea-U.S. dialogue. There are even speculations that he might pull out the card of withdrawing U.S. Forces Korea in order to meet Kim Jong-un.

Here is correspondent Jeon Byeong-nam from Washington.

[Reporter]

Regarding North Korea's launch of over a dozen ballistic missiles yesterday, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (referred to as Pacific Command in the original text) issued a statement saying that "it does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies."

Compared to past precedents where the State Department or the Department of Defense stepped up to strongly condemn missile provocations, both the entity making the announcement and the level of the response were lowered.

Previously, Trump avoided questions about North Korea's denuclearization, defended Chairman Kim Jong-un, and showed an active willingness to hold a North Korea-U.S. summit.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (local time on the 19th) : (Is denuclearization still the goal you want to achieve with Chairman Kim?) Well, I don't want to talk about that right now. Frankly speaking, I thought that (South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises) were very insulting to someone (Kim Jong-un) who has behaved very politely, at least during my term.]

Because of this, concerns are being raised that Trump might make excessive concessions, such as withdrawing U.S. Forces Korea, to ensure a summit takes place, without receiving a firm guarantee from North Korea on easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

It is known that during the first North Korea-U.S. summit in 2018, Trump tried to offer the withdrawal of U.S. Forces Korea as a concession, but abandoned the idea due to opposition from figures like Defense Secretary Mattis.

However, the current second administration is filled with loyalists, leaving practically no advisers to stop Trump's unilateral decisions or erratic actions.

Some analysts suggest that President Trump might push the summit schedule forward even further to secure diplomatic achievements ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Scenarios such as an October Surprise, in which Trump makes a surprise visit to Pyongyang sometime in October, are even being discussed.

John Bolton, a North Korea hawk who served as national security advisor during the first Trump administration, criticized, saying, "Trump's actions are weakening deterrence against North Korea and sending a grim political signal to allies like South Korea."

(Video reporting: Park Eun-ha, Video editing: Jung Sung-hoon, Design: Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.