송상호
| 2024-06-05 06:25:08
Gingrich-Trump-Korea
Trump has no interest in leaving S. Korea undefended: Gingrich
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Yonhap) -- Former President Donald Trump has no interest in leaving South Korea "undefended," though he may want the "wealthy" ally to invest more for its security, a former U.S. House speaker said Tuesday.
Newt Gingrich, former speaker from 1995-1999, made the remarks amid speculation that if reelected, Trump could threaten to withdraw or reduce the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to pressure Seoul to increase its contributions to the stationing of USFK.
"He's willing to share the burden, but he's not willing to carry the burden by himself," Gingrich said in a virtual forum hosted by the Washington Times Foundation.
"But I don't think he has any interest in leaving South Korea undefended. I think he understands that South Korea is a key linchpin, as is Japan, to preserving American interests in the region," he added.
Gingrich noted that Trump sees the need for America to reinvest in its own military to deal with security challenges from the Indo-Pacific -- an apparent reason why Trump believes Asian allies should make more security contributions.
"I think Trump is looking intuitively ... that he's going to have to reinvest a lot just objectively, and therefore his wealthy allies should also invest a lot," he said.
Touching on Trump's career as a businessman, Gingrich cited a business negotiation playbook that Trump might turn to in his engagement with allies if reelected: "You should never be embarrassed to ask for too much or offer too little."
"He will be negotiating (with South Korea) on the economic front, negotiating on the payment front in terms of military," he said.
"But I don't think that he would want to send any signal to (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un that there is any weakness in the American commitment to South Korea remaining safe and prosperous."
Commenting on the argument that the United States should focus more on Chinese threats and consider removing some American troops from South Korea, Gingrich raised a challenging question himself.
"My first question would be where are you going to move them? If your interest is stability in East Asia, they are probably located as well as they could be," he said. "You are not going to put them on Taiwan."
He underscored the role of USFK as a "tripwire," a term that refers to a situation in which American troops are automatically involved in the event of a massive North Korean attack or invasion.
"One of the purposes is that they are a tripwire," he said. "You cannot do a military plan for South Korea without having to kill a lot of Americans."
He also pointed out America's capacity to "annihilate" the North Korean regime in the event of a nuclear attack, as he talked about a set of U.S. weapons systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
"From a purely American standpoint, it doesn't matter whether we have nuclear weapons on the peninsula," he said.
"We (have) at most an ICBM reaching Pyongyang. We are probably 16-18 minutes from the Trident launch reaching Pyongyang ... We will have a capacity to annihilate the regime under any circumstance."
His remarks came amid a resurgent debate over the idea of the U.S. redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea for stronger deterrence against evolving North Korean threats.
(END)
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]