Could a ‘reckless’ Trump’s ‘destroy-and-deal’ tactics target North Korea?

A Korean-American leader said the strategy was influenced by ‘new neocons’, urging Seoul to prioritise risk management over diplomacy3-MIN READ3-MIN0ListenPublished: 3:41pm, 30 Apr 2026As a rift widens among Republicans over US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, a top Korean-American leader said Seoul must recognise that President Donald Trump is heavily influenced by a faction he calls “new neocons”.Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson broke sharply with the president in a Wall Street Journal interview on Saturday, calling him a “slave” to hawkish interventionists willing to deploy military force.Kim Dong-seok, the 68-year-old head of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, said South Korea must stop treating Trump’s decisions as mere impulses and instead analyse the calculated strategies driving his administration.Trump is not a traditional isolationist, Kim said during an interview in Washington on April 15.While the president courted white working-class voters with anti-interventionist rhetoric, strategic lobbyists successfully persuaded him by rebranding military action to fit his “America first” agenda.They engineered a “destroy-and-deal” strategy, Kim said. This approach relies heavily on drone warfare to bomb targets without committing US ground troops, forcing adversaries into negotiations without risking American casualties.01:28US forces seize Iranian ship as Tehran says it has no plans to join peace talksUS forces seize Iranian ship as Tehran says it has no plans to join peace talksFinancial incentives also drive this approach, Kim said, as drone warfare directly benefits the president’s family.“Drones will likely replenish the stockpiles depleted by a war with Iran, and the people pocketing that money are Trump’s two sons,” Kim said.Eric Trump invests in Xtend, an Israeli drone firm holding a Department of Defence contract, while Donald Trump Jnr sits on the board of Unusual Machines, a drone parts start-up.Elliott Abrams, the former special envoy for Iran during the first Trump administration, is at the centre of the new neocons. Abrams founded the Vandenberg Coalition in 2021 and uses the Heritage Foundation to exert influence.Further Reading“Adding regime change in Iran to the administration’s war objectives was also the handiwork of the new neocons,” Kim said.The coalition includes White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby, along with Senators Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton.To navigate this aggressive environment, Kim said Korean-Americans must emulate the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).A billboard depicting Iranian troops using a net to catch US combat aircraft is displayed at the Revolution Square in Tehran on Tuesday. Photo: AFPWhen the Obama administration shifted US diplomatic focus towards Asia through its “pivot to Asia” policy, AIPAC rapidly mobilised to maintain its influence, Kim said.He said the organisation pools “small money” – grassroots donations from general members – to cultivate politicians and strategists capable of advancing Israeli interests. This stems from the belief that US power is indispensable until the Jewish state is fully secure.He added that the group prioritises national interests over ideological alignment, making it flexible enough to shift political directions. This pragmatism explains why the community supports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite significant ideological differences.“We must study the strategy and tenacity of the Jewish community, which pushed Trump into a war simply to secure its own national interests,” Kim said.As a cautionary tale, Kim pointed to the 600,000-strong Iranian-American community, which remains deeply divided over the recent US air strikes.Warning that a similar fracture could devastate the Korean diaspora, he urged progressive and conservative factions to unite for survival.Seoul should scrutinise Trump’s path to war because North Korea could also become a target under the “destroy-and-deal” framework, Kim said. He warned without restraining influences and unconstrained by re-election, the US president is now harder to predict.“Trump currently has no aides to restrain him and no need to manage public opinion for a re-election bid,” Kim said. “He is far more reckless and dangerous now than in his first term.”US ambassador nominee to South Korea Michelle Park Steel. Photo: The Orange County Register/TNSKim also warned that with such unstable leadership, South Korea must prioritise risk management.“Instead of taking risks to score diplomatic victories on inter-Korean issues, Seoul must focus on risk reduction to preserve stability and peace,” he said.This strategic pragmatism faces an immediate test in Seoul following Trump’s April 13 nomination of Michelle Park Steel as US ambassador to South Korea.Steel is a former US Representative and conservative Republican. Both she and Kim entered politics following the 1992 Los Angeles riots.Because of her staunch conservatism, South Korean liberals are pressuring the Lee Jae Myung administration to refuse the host country’s prior diplomatic consent, known as agrément.However, Kim urged Seoul to leverage the nomination by turning Steel into a second Donald Gregg.A former CIA officer, Gregg arrived in Seoul in 1989 as a representative backing a military dictatorship but eventually transformed into an ardent supporter of democracy.Because Steel is the first US ambassador to South Korea since Gregg to hold a direct line to the White House, Kim said Seoul must use her access rather than reject her appointment.