Pres. Trump scraps surprise visit to Korean DMZ due to weather

SEOUL -- Softening his aggressive rhetoric, at least for the moment, President Donald Trump stood on South Korean soil Tuesday and urged North Korea to come to the negotiating table. But plans for a surprise visit by Trump to the heavily fortified Korean demilitarized zone on Wednesday were thwarted by fog.

Trump had been scheduled to make the unannounced morning trip to the DMZ amid heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program. His helicopter was forced to turn back to Seoul due to bad weather near the border.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was disappointed he couldn't make the trip — and "pretty frustrated." A White House official had earlier ruled out the trip, claiming Trump didn't have time on his schedule and that DMZ visits have become "a little bit of a cliché."

Visiting the border that has separated the North and South for 64 years has become something of a ritual for U.S. presidents trying to demonstrate their resolve against North Korea's ever-escalating aggression. Every American president since Ronald Reagan, save for George H.W. Bush, has made the trip, peering across the barren north through binoculars, hearing broadcast propaganda, and reaffirming their commitment to standing with the South.

The attempted visit was scheduled for a day after Trump made a striking shift in tone for a president, who for months has issued increasingly dire threats to answer any hostile North Korean action with "fire and fury." In a recent speech at the United Nations, Trump said he would "totally destroy" the nation, if necessary, and has derided Kim as "little Rocket Man."