WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng: South Koreans Nervous When They Hear Aggressive Talk From the W.H.

‘You have Trump tweeting and — sometimes going quite wild in his rhetoric from one side to the other, and it’s unclear what exactly he intends to do’

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RADDATZ: And Jonathan, I wanted to talk to you again about here on the Korean peninsula. We started the program that way. We end the program this way. What do you expect here next? I mean, when I walk around the city, people are not frightened. Pretty are pretty calm. People are pretty used to it. But you heard us talk today, it is at a very, very serious stage.

CHENG: You're right, the South Koreans are used to this. They have lived in the shadow of the North Korean threat for 50, 60, 70 years. It's not unusual for them to hear these bellicose remarks from the North.

What they aren't used to is hearing it also from the White House. And if you're a South Korean here, you're looking at a neighbor that is perhaps on the verge of something big happening here. And it may start there, and it may start from Washington. And you feel a little bit caught in the cross fire.

RADDTAZ: So they're more nervous when they hear this aggressive talk?

CHENG: I think so. Again, usually, the White House, Washington, has been a reassuring force. I think that's why Mike Pence is here. In a certain I think he's here to reassure the allies. But you have Trump tweeting and -- sometimes going quite wild in his rhetoric from one side to the other, and it's unclear what exactly he intends to do.

RADDATZ: And does it seem to you, quickly, that he has a red line?

CHENG: Well, I don't know what that red line is. And I don't know that North Korea has gotten the message either. And I think south Korea, here, too, is concerned that nobody knows right where this is.

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