WASHINGTON \u2014 It has become something of a ritual for U.S. presidents trying to demonstrate their resolve against North Korea\u2019s ever-escalating aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beginning with Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s visit to the front lines of wartime Korea, U.S. leaders have traveled to the barbed and mined demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula, peering across the barren north through binoculars, hearing broadcast propaganda, and reaffirming their commitment to standing with the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving the possibility of the visit dangling, the White House announced definitively Tuesday that President Donald Trump would not be following in their footsteps and will be forgoing a visit to the DMZ as he sets out on his maiden Asia trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior administration official told reporters during a White House briefing that Trump will instead be visiting Camp Humphreys, a military base about 40 miles south of Seoul, to highlight the U.S.-South Korean partnership and South Korea\u2019s burden-sharing. His tight schedule, officials said, wouldn\u2019t accommodate both stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of the trip, noted that several Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence, had already made the trip to the border that has separated the North and South for 64 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s trip comes amid escalating tensions and rhetoric with North Korea, which has continued to pursue its missile and nuclear programs and ramped up its missile testing. In a recent speech at the United Nations, Trump said he would \u201ctotally destroy\u201d the nation, if necessary. He has also derided North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as \u201clittle Rocket Man.\u201d Kim has returned the favor, calling Trump a \u201cmentally deranged U.S. dotard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House has played down the notion that its hesitation to send Trump to the DMZ stemmed from security concerns. But two people familiar with the administration\u2019s thinking said that security issues had been discussed. The Secret Service, which advises on the president\u2019s itinerary, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. and South Korean officials also argued that a visit to Camp Humphreys, also known as United States Army Garrison-Humphreys, at the invitation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, serves as a fitting symbol of the countries\u2019 ties and South Korea\u2019s commitment to contributing to its own defense \u2014 a theme the president often pressed during his campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some experts on the region also breathed a sigh of relief, arguing the trip could have further inflamed tensions between Trump and Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would probably be begging him not to (go). No Secret Service likes to,\u201d said Dean Cheng, a China expert with the Heritage Foundation. He said that, given the recent exchange of words between Kim and Trump, a visit was \u201cprobably more fraught with risk than your average presidential visit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others pointed to the symbolism of the president\u2019s visit to the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo me it was a no-brainer that he should go to Humphreys, this new base that they\u2019ve poured all this money into,\u201d said Jim Schoff, a former Pentagon adviser on East Asia policy and now senior fellow in the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schoff said the base was \u201cperfect\u201d for Trump: \u201cIt\u2019s a big, massive real estate project and it\u2019s South Korean-funded. It\u2019s the big story of the alliance in recent times and it\u2019s a great opportunity to highlight that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Troy Stangarone, a senior director at the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, agreed that, with the move of United States Forces Korea to Camp Humphreys almost complete, \u201ca visit there sends a stronger signal about U.S. commitment to defend South Korea.\u201d A trip to the DMZ , he said, \u201ccould instead be misinterpreted and raise tensions on the Korean peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visiting the wooded, craggy terrain inside the DMZ is like going back in time to 1953. In July of that year, the Korean War armistice agreement was signed at Panmunjom, the so-called \u201ctruce village\u201d bisected by a marker that is the official dividing line between North and South Korea. This is the only area inside the DMZ where soldiers of North and South can stand nose to nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1983, Ronald Reagan became first U.S. president to enter the DMZ \u2014 with South Korean artillery gunners standing poised to fire if necessary to protect him \u2014 and every president, barring one, has made the trip since. Trump\u2019s predecessor, Barack Obama, visited during a 2012 trip to Seoul and told troops stationed at the border that \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1993, Bill Clinton stood closer to North Korean territory than any Western leader, walking out on the \u201cBridge of No Return\u201d and looking through binoculars at North Koreans about 50 yards away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He later recalled seeing young North Korean soldiers looking back at him and thinking: \u201cI wish you could walk over this bridge and I hope it won\u2019t be long until you can, until we put down the threat of nuclear war and open up the hand of friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pence said his visit earlier this year let North Koreans \u201csee our resolve in my face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Evans Revere, a former senior State Department official for East Asia, said that he was disappointed by Trump\u2019s decision. He said a visit would have helped the president understand the human toll of any potential military action and see for himself just how close Seoul is to the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy not visiting the DMZ, President Trump can only remind our allies, once again, that he does not view our alliance commitments in the same way as did every one of his predecessors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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