‘South Korea,’ ‘Samsung,’ ‘Kim Jong-un’ pepper Biden-Trump debate

US President Joe Biden and former US President Donald Trump, in their first televised debate on Thursday night, exchanged barbs on a number of topics, among them South Korea, Samsung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

During the highly anticipated faceoff, Biden invoked “South Korea” while locking horns over defense policy with Trump, to underscore the United States’ role as a military supporter and its success in rallying international aid: “I’ve got 50 other nations around the world to support Ukraine, including Japan and South Korea.”

Each debater mentioned the North Korean leader once during the showdown.

The Democratic president, who rebutted Trump’s assertion that the US is “a failing nation” under Biden’s leadership, emphasized that the nation remains steadfast as “the most progressive” and “the strongest” country in the world. Biden asserted that countries like North Korea and Russia, to whom Trump “cuddles up to, from Kim Jong-un who he sends love letters to, or Putin, etc.” cannot “screw around” with the US.

While lambasting Biden’s military policy, which the Republican candidate described as “insane,” Trump claimed that “President Xi of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea,” as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin, do not “respect” nor “fear” the US president. “They have nothing going with this gentleman and he’s going to drive us into World War III,” he added.

On a different topic of Biden’s economic scorecard, Samsung Electronics stood as an example of his efforts to attract investment from foreign corporations. “I went to South Korea. I convinced Samsung to invest billions of dollars here in the US,” he said.

The intense 90-minute debate, held at CNN’s studios in the state of Georgia ahead of the presidential election slated for Nov. 5, primarily revolved around foreign policy, defense policy, immigration and inflation.