President Donald Trump will reportedly not visit the Korean demilitarized zone during his upcoming trip to Asia.
Most U.S. presidents visit the DMZ to send a message to North Korea that the U.S. will stand by its allies and against the regime’s aggression. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama visited the DMZ, but Trump will instead travel to Camp Humphreys, a military base just south of Seoul, the Associated Press introduced, citing White House officials.
There has been much speculation surrounding the trip.
South Korean defense officials recently told Yonhap News Agency that White House personnel visited spots along the inter-Korean border in preparation for the president’s visit, suggesting that Trump intended to make a trip to the DMZ.
Trump revealed last week that he and his staff were taking a look at the possibility of visiting the border, a move that would follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, as well as his secretary of state and vice president.
There have been concerns about the president’s security and the risk of escalation given the tense state of affairs at the border. White House officials claimed that security is not the issue, indicating that other factors are driving the president’s decision.
Trump will take a two-week trip across Asia next month, stopping in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, China, and Vietnam. Although the White House asserts the president will not visit the DMZ, Trump is often unpredictable.
When Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the DMZ, he took several unplanned steps simply to show U.S. resolve. “I thought it was important that people on the other side of the DMZ see our resolve in my face,” he revealed to The Washington Post in April.
Clinton called the DMZ, the 2.5-mile-wide, 150-mile-long buffer zone between North and South Korea, “the scariest place on Earth.” Pence said his trip was a “chilling experience.”
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