US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that South Korea is such an important nation that there will be "no skipping" the Asian ally, rejecting concerns in the South that the country could be sidelined when the US makes important decisions on Korea Peninsula issues.
"South Korea, the Republic of Korea, Korea is very important to me and there will be no skipping South Korea. I can tell you that right now," Trump said during a joint news conference with President Moon Jae-in after their summit talks at Cheong Wa Dae.
(Yonhap)
"Plus I've developed great friendships not only with the president, but with others and we're not going to let them down and they're not going to let us down cause we're doing a lot for them, to be honest," he said.
In recent months, experts and politicians in the South have increasingly expressed concerns about the possibility of the country losing its voice in Korean Peninsula issues, a phenomenon that local media have dubbed the "Korea passing," which refers to the US bypassing Seoul and making important decisions on its own.
Trump's remark was meaningful in that the US president directly rejected such concerns. (Yonhap)
