United States President Donald Trump was revealed to have called South Koreans “terrible” and claimed he didn’t like working with Moon Jae In.
Maryland governor Larry Hogan wrote a piece for the Washington Post, detailing how he tried to help his state deal with the Coronavirus and what he and his South Korean wife, Yumi, went through during a private dinner with Trump.
Because of the White House’s inability to assist states, and even seizing personal protective equipment that states were intending to use, Larry Hogan took matters into his own hands. He and his wife contacted Moon Jae In in search of Coronavirus tests, and they worked with LabGenomics to secure 500,000 tests for a cost of $9 million USD. They hid the tests at a secret location in order to prevent authorities from seizing their shipment.
Later on, Trump attended a dinner sponsored by the Republican Governors Association, and this is where Trump’s true ideals were revealed, showering praise onto the leaders of China, Japan, and North Korea.
I don’t remember him mentioning the virus, but he talked about how much he respected President Xi Jinping of China; how much he liked playing golf with his buddy “Shinzo,” Prime Minister Abe of Japan; how well he got along with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
— Larry Hogan
That wasn’t the most shocking part for Larry Hogan though. What came next really surprised him, and also his Korean wife. He also referred to the tens of thousands of US Military forces that are currently stationed throughout South Korea.
Trump said he really didn’t like dealing with President Moon from South Korea. The South Koreans were “terrible people,” he said, and he didn’t know why the United States had been protecting them all these years. “They don’t pay us,” Trump complained.
Yumi was sitting there as the president hurled insults at her birthplace. I could tell she was hurt and upset. I know she wanted to walk out. But she sat there politely and silently.
— Larry Hogan
This was in stark contract to the South Korean response, with a special video message from Moon Jae In himself.
The next night, Saturday, Lee Soo-hyuck, the South Korean ambassador to the United States, hosted a reception at his official residence for all the governors and their spouses. Yumi had worked with the ambassador to plan the event. Moon delivered a video message, welcoming the governors and thanking them for Korea’s very special relationship with the United States.
Speaking in Korean with English subtitles, he said how proud he was of Yumi as the first Korean American first lady in the United States. Then he referred to me as the son-in-law of the Korean people. It meant a lot to us to hear him say that, though it would take a couple of months before we would learn just how much his warmth would truly mean to the people of my state.
— Larry Hogan
Currently, the United States is seeing record-breaking numbers of cases every day, with July 16 recording over 75,000 new cases. The United States currently has nearly 3.7 million cases, alongside over 140,000 deaths. On the other hand, South Korea has merely 13,672 cases, and 293 deaths.
