Why South Korea fears a Trump second term – even with his proxy’s assurances

Fred Fleitz, a former top Trump security official, arrived in Seoul this week in an apparent bid to assuage Korean fears, denying in local media interviews that Trump had threatened to withdraw US troops unless Seoul paid billions of dollars more.

“I believe that President Trump is a friend of South Korea. Trump is a deal-maker. But … this is an issue that has to be negotiated,” Fleitz said during an interview with Channel-A TV in Seoul on Tuesday.

“I believe very strongly that Trump probably will try to resume personal diplomacy with Kim,” Fleitz said during the television interview. “He frequently says in his campaign speeches that his diplomacy with leader Kim was one of the big successes of his foreign policy.”

In a separate press conference on Tuesday, Fleitz told journalists that a reelected Trump would press Kim to follow through on his 2018 pledge to denuclearise, and would demand that North Korea “stop sending weapons” to Russia as a precondition for any renewed dialogue.

However, Moon Seong-mook of the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy warned that a second Trump administration would find reviving talks challenging.

“A deal with Kim means the US acknowledges the North as a nuclear-armed state and seeks mutual disarmament,” he told This Week in Asia. “Could Washington stomach this?”

“They may say whatever they want to say, as they are not in office now, but they would find it a different matter if they try to translate those words into policies.”

Sohn Yul, a political-science professor at Seoul National University, expressed concern that Trump’s policy of retrenchment from international affairs and towards domestic priorities could undermine Washington’s commitment to its allies’ defence.

He cautioned that a