Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Coronavirus: Trump asked South Korea for equipment in return for business deals, Seoul says

Request comes against background of US president refusing to activate emergency production measures

Phil Thomas
New York
Tuesday 24 March 2020 13:05 EDT
Comments
Trump says US wasn't built to be shut down

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump asked South Korea for medical equipment to help fight the coronavirus in return for promises to give US approval to Korean companies, the presidential office in Seoul has said.

President Moon Jae-in offered to send the equipment if his country has any spare, his Blue House office said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The offer apparently followed a 23-minute phone call, which it said was arranged at Mr Trump’s urgent request.

The request highlights the very different reactions to Covid-19 the two nations have taken since both discovered their first coronavirus cases on the same day.

South Korea rolled out widespread testing within days, launching an aggressive programme to isolate confirmed cases and trace their contacts.

Following a significant early outbreak it has won praise for slowing the spread of the disease.

So far it has reported 125 deaths, compared to more than 500 in the United States.

The number of new infections per day has been below 100 for 13 consecutive days.

In contrast, the US did little testing initially, and has now been shutting parts of the country en masse, with fast-growing outbreaks in a number of states and thousands of new cases per day.

Mr Trump sought for weeks to play down the threat of the coronavirus, insisting at one point that the 15 confirmed cases in the US would soon be “close to zero”, and saying it would disappear like a “miracle”.

Trump calls for protection of Asian Americans after his use of 'Chinese virus' blamed for rise in racism

The revelation that he has apparently asked for help from a foreign country comes against the background of increased calls within the United States for the president to activate the Defense Production Act, which would allow him to force private companies to join the fight against Covid-19 by repurposing their output towards urgent products like hand sanitiser and face masks.

Mr Trump says he has no need to force companies to make medical supplies because so many have volunteered.

Reuters contributed to this article

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in