Trump Says "I Think South Korea's Medical Examination Capability Is Amazing"...Unexpected Mention of South Korea in Self-Praise (Comprehensive Report 2)

Interpretation That Korean-Style Quarantine and Testing Standards Were Chosen

U.S. President Donald Trump is answering questions at a virtual town hall meeting held in front of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln on the 3rd. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] U.S. President Donald Trump said, "Korea thinks the United States' COVID-19 testing is 'incredible'."

In his self-praise of the U.S. response to COVID-19, he unexpectedly mentioned Korea, leading to interpretations that he might be using Korea's response as a standard for COVID-19 prevention.

President Trump's remarks came on the 3rd (local time) during a virtual town hall meeting with Fox News held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a White House advisor, described the federal government's measures as a great success story, and Trump was praising his own COVID-19 response, including plans to resume economic activities and accelerate vaccine development.

President Trump's mention of Korea that day suggests he regarded Korea as a standard, as it came while he was evaluating the U.S. measures as successful. At a Fox News virtual town hall meeting on March 25, he claimed, "U.S. testing is better than Korea's." The reason was that the U.S. had conducted more tests in the past eight days than Korea had in two months. President Trump has repeatedly claimed during White House COVID-19 Task Force briefings that the U.S. conducted more tests than Korea.

White House aides also mentioned in March, when COVID-19 was rampant in the U.S., that the country was "at a crossroads between Korea and Italy."

President Trump praised Korea's COVID-19 response during a phone call with President Moon Jae-in. According to the Blue House, on the 18th of last month, Trump said in a call with Moon, "Korea's COVID-19 response is the best model." On March 24, during a call with Moon, he also said, "Korea has done very well in responding to COVID-19" and requested support for medical equipment. Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also participated in the event.

Meanwhile, some Americans criticized the event being held in front of the Abraham Lincoln statue as inappropriate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.