A Korean-American leader said the strategy was influenced by ‘new neocons’, urging Seoul to prioritise risk management over diplomacy
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenThe Korea TimesPublished: 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.
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.
