Donald Trump will not continue the Presidential tradition of visiting the armed border dividing the Korean peninsula during his tour of Asia next week.
An official told reporters that Trump would be too busy to visit the border on his 12-day trip starting on Sunday. Instead, the US President will visit Camp Humphreys – the new headquarters of the US 8th Army.
“The president is not going to visit the DMZ, there is not enough time in the schedule,” said the official.
“No president has visited Camp Humphreys and we thought that that made more sense in terms of its messaging, in terms of the chance to address families and troops there,”
“The South Korean government paid the vast majority of the costs for building that base and repositioning some of the US forces and their families on the peninsula,”
Every US President, with the exception of George W Bush, has made the trip to the border between North and South Korea since 1983.
When Barack Obama went in 2012, he said: “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.”
Tensions between the US and North Korea remain high. Ahead of Trump’s Asia visit, North’s state-run KCNA news agency described Trump as an “incurably mentally deranged” person.
“He absolutely needs medicine for curing his psychical disorder,” the news agency continued.
This comes following various threats traded between the leaders. Earlier this year, Trump warned North Korea of the “fire and fury” and “calm before the storm”.
Following the tested missiles from Pyongyang, Trump also referred to Kim Jong-un as the “Rocket Man”, warning the UN General Assembly that the US could “totally destroy North Korea”.
Trump’s itinerary for his 12-day trip includes visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.