Trump says could 'hold up' Korea trade deal for N.Korea issue

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to "hold up" a renegotiated free trade agreement with South Korea until he reaches a deal with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program.

Calling the trade deal a "very strong card," Trump hinted it could be used as leverage to get Seoul to do more to denuclearize the North.

"I may hold it up 'til after a deal is made with North Korea," he said during a speech on infrastructure in Ohio. "Does everybody understand that? You know why, right? You know why? Because it's a very strong card."

Seoul and Washington announced Wednesday that they had agreed "in principle" on a revision to the KORUS trade deal. Among other things, the revision calls for further opening South Korea's auto market to the U.S., and comes with an agreement to exempt South Korea from new U.S. tariffs on steel imports. Instead, South Korea will face a quota on its steel exports to the U.S.

"I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly," Trump said. "And we're moving along very nicely with North Korea. We'll see what happens."

The U.S. president is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the end of May to talk about dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will also meet with Kim on April 27.

"We'll see how it all turns out. Maybe it'll be good and maybe it won't," Trump said. "And if it's no good, we're walking. And if it's good, we will embrace it. But it's going to be very interesting over the next period of time."

Trump has slammed KORUS, which went into effect in 2012, as a horrible deal that took away American jobs and widened the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea. He threatened to terminate the agreement last year but stopped short amid calls to strengthen cooperation with South Korea after North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date in September.

South Korea has been "wonderful," Trump said, but "we'll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it all plays out."

Tensions escalated as Trump and Kim exchanged fiery rhetoric and personal insults. A mood for rapprochement set in this year after North Korea reached out to the South over its participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

"Certainly, the rhetoric has calmed down just a little bit, wouldn't you say?" Trump quipped.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declined to comment on the president's remarks but said the trade agreement has yet to be finalized.

"We believe that this will be better for American workers and for the U.S. economy," she said at a regular press briefing. "But this is not a done deal. It's not a final agreement."

Shortly after the revision was announced Wednesday, Trump hailed it as a "great deal for American and Korean workers" and said: "Let's now focus on our important security relationship."

Earlier this month Trump also made remarks suggesting he could withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea if a trade deal was not reached.

The U.S. has some 28,500 troops stationed in the Asian ally nation to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)