President Moon: "Endured Trump's Demands a Lot... It Must Have Helped Other Countries Too"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] It has been reported that President Moon Jae-in said he "resisted a lot, saying it was unacceptable" to former U.S. President Trump's demand for an increase in defense cost-sharing in the past, adding, "It probably helped other countries a lot as well."

Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House Chief of Public Communication, shared behind-the-scenes stories related to former President Trump's interview on his Facebook on the 4th under the title "The President's Story Not in the Briefing."

Previously, former President Trump stated in an interview, "President Moon was probably the happiest about my losing the election. It was because I tried to significantly raise South Korea's defense cost-sharing."

When Chief Park asked President Moon's opinion on this during a staff meeting on the 7th of last month, President Moon said, "At that time, I extensively explained that former President Trump's demands deviated greatly from past frameworks and resisted a lot, saying it was unacceptable," adding, "I also think we were able to uphold our demands because there was a consensus within the U.S. that former President Trump's demands were excessive."

He also conveyed that President Moon smiled and said, "Perhaps my strong resistance also greatly helped other countries."

Chief Park explained, "Although it is a brief anecdote, it contains each party's sincere concern for their national interests," adding, "Former President Trump made excessive demands from the perspective of U.S. national interests, while President Moon defended from the perspective of the Republic of Korea's national interests."

He further said, "Since former President Trump's self-praising interview ultimately resulted in praising President Moon, we should be thankful for former President Trump's very excellent interview."

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