U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told governors in February that he does not like dealing with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and thinks the South Korean people are "terrible."
In an op-ed for The Washington Post Thursday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan wrote that Trump spoke harshly of South Korea, the birthplace of his wife, Yumi, during a private dinner sponsored by the Republican Governors Association.
Hogan said Trump talked about how much he respected Chinese President Xi Jinping, how much he liked playing golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and how well he got along with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
However, according to Hogan, Trump said he really did not like dealing with President Moon and didn't know why the United States had been protecting South Korea all these years, complaining that the Asian ally doesn't pay.
Trump was apparently referring to the stationing of American troops on the Korean Peninsula.
Hogan also accused Trump of refusing to help states with coronavirus testing and bungling the federal response to the pandemic.
He said he was left to seek help elsewhere, and that's what prompted him to solicit his wife's help in making a phone call to the South Korean ambassador to the U.S., Lee Soo-hyuck, on March 28, to secure test kits.
On April 18, a Korean Air flight landed in Baltimore 500,000 test kits from South Korea.
Hogan said he thought he would get a congratulatory word from President Trump for his move, but instead Trump criticized him and said he could have called Vice President Mike Pence and saved a lot of money.
At a press conference Wednesday, Hogan said the South Korean test kits he acquired should last his state well into the fall.
Maryland has reported more than 75,000 coronavirus cases and over 3,200 related deaths.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
