Biden concludes visit in South Korea, heads to Japan

(Image credit: Kim Hong-Ji - Pool/Getty Images)

published 22 May 2022

President Biden on Sunday left Seoul for Japan, kicking off the second leg of his first presidential trip to Asia.

When asked prior to his departure what message he had for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Biden offered up a simple, "Hello ... period," a response perhaps reflecting his administration's "so-far-unsuccessful attempts at restarting diplomacy with Pyongyang," CNN writes. South Korean and American intelligence had indicated North Korea to be planning a nuclear or missile test coinciding with Biden's visit.

And before stepping aboard Air Force One, the president said the U.S. is looking into available vaccines for monkeypox, a relatively rare, small pox-like virus that's been detected in a number of countries where it is not endemic. "We're working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine if any might be available for it," Biden told reporters, noting that advisers "haven't told me the level of exposure yet, but it is something that everybody should be concerned about."

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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.

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