Security expert Peter Bergen said Trump once asked to evacuate the people of Seoul when US-North Korea tensions escalated in 2017.

Bergen, a security and counterterrorism expert, said Trump's request to evacuate people in Seoul, South Korea, was made during a meeting at the Oval Office on North Korea in mid-April. In 2017, after a series of Pyongyang missile tests, involving leading security officials.

According to Bergen, during the meeting, national security officials and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency built a model of a secret North Korean base the size of a coffee table, to illustrate North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

They also showed Trump a satellite image of the Korean peninsula at night, showing the bright lights on Chinese and Korean territory as well as the dark space in North Korea. Trump initially mistook this black space as the sea, but after learning that Seoul was only 48 kilometers south of the demilitarized zone, he wondered, "Why is Seoul so close to the border with North Korea?".

During the meeting, officials repeatedly stressed Trump that the United States was restricted from taking action against North Korea because Pyongyang's weapons armament could wreak havoc on the Korean capital in retaliation for any attack. , leading to the risk of casualties for 25 million people.

"They must evacuate," Bergen quoted Trump, adding that officials initially thought the President was joking. However, Trump continued to emphasize this request. Officials did not take any action afterward to implement Trump's "evacuation of Seoul" directive.

In an interview on Fox News in January 2018, former General Jack Keane warned that US troops deployed in South Korea should not bring their families. Bergen said after watching the interview, Trump told the security officials that he "wanted American civilians to evacuate from Korea".

However, a senior official explained that the move will be interpreted as a signal that the US is ready to fight and that will cause the Korean stock market to collapse. Bergen said the White House boss ignored the advice and ordered his subordinates to follow suit, but Pentagon officials once again ignored the directive, prompting Trump to eventually give up the idea.

Bergen's book published amid tensions between Washington and Pyongyang showed signs of increase after more than 18 months of cooling off. Pyongyang has recently carried out weapons tests and repeatedly attacked Trump, while the US President also reiterated the nickname "Rocket Man" once used for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Right before the year-end deadline set by Kim for Washington to make concessions, the North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song declared that the country no longer denuclearized with the US and criticized the Trump administration for "buying time". This situation has raised concerns that Pyongyang may resume its long-range and nuclear missile testing later this year or early next year.