Sources: Trump sought to evacuate military families from South Korea before Olympics

President Donald Trump believes next month’s historic summit with Kim Jong Un could end the decades-old threat of North Korea’s nuclear program.

But earlier this year, just weeks before the Winter Olympics in South Korea that served as a critical diplomatic opening with Pyongyang, the President ordered his top national security officials to prepare to evacuate the families of all US military personnel living in South Korea, four current and former administration officials said.

The order was a provocative step that, had it been fully implemented, would have heightened tensions with North Korea and could have sent the region spiraling closer to war.

The presidential order is the clearest indication yet that Trump viewed war with North Korea as a real possibility, even as recently as the beginning of this year. At the time, Trump was convinced tensions could ultimately escalate beyond just rhetoric and was mulling military options against North Korea. The rapid shift from provocative steps to summit diplomacy illustrates the whipsaw approach the President has adopted on the global stage.