Joint Letter to President Trump re: Amb. Tan

Hon. Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to ensure that you are aware of both what appears to be a deliberate and offensive personal slight to you as well as fresh evidence of quite ominous strategic developments for our national security.

Nearly two months ago, the South Korean government of President Lee Jae Myung prevented the return to America of a man who served with great distinction as our Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in your first administration: Ambassador Morse Tan. He has effectively been a political hostage ever since with the original exit ban extended twice, currently through at least the middle of August.

To add insult to injury, the Ambassador has been indicted for having “defamed” President Lee during remarks in June 2025 at the National Press Club in Washington. Needless to say, such speech is protected by our Constitution. In fact, it is by current South Korean legal code, as well.

Consequently, the Lee regime’s ongoing persecution of Amb. Tan is not only an outrageous human rights abuse. It is, if anything, validating the concerns that this former senior diplomat and a growing number of others have been raising about the alarming and increasingly totalitarian transformation now underway in the Republic of Korea, one of our most important allies and security partners in East Asia.

We urge you to engage at once with President Lee to impress upon him that such mistreatment of one of your people and his increasing repression at home and realigning abroad with Communist China and North Korea – of which the Tan travesty is but one manifestation – are unacceptable to the United States. He must be made to understand that such activities can prove extremely inimical to our important bilateral relationship, especially at a time when South Korea is pursuing extensive commercial and military shipbuilding deals with our country.

Please act to secure Amb. Tan’s release from the RoK without further delay and to prevent further bilateral strains at a time when our two nations require more than ever a robust and mutually dedicated stance against our mutual enemies’ regional aggression.

Sincerely,

Paul Berkowitz, Researcher; retired U.S. congressional staff; U.S. Air Force Reserve

Capt. Stu Cvrk, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Organizer and Facilitator, South Dakota Grassroots Coalition of Counties

Hon. Robert Destro, former Assistant Secretary of State, Professor Emeritus of Law, The Catholic University of America

Dr. William Devlin, Director, Widows and Orphans

Hon./Lt. Col. Chuck DeVore, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Constance V. Elliott, Member, Committee on the Present Danger: China

Capt. James R. Everett III, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Hulda Fahmi, Communications Associate, Jubilee Campaign

Capt. James Fanell, U.S. Navy (Ret.), former Chief of Intelligence and Information Operations, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Frank J. Gaffney, Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China; former Assistant Secretary of Defense (Acting)

Ellen Grigsby, Director of Strategic Relationships, Frontlines International

Suzanne Bock Grishman, Executive Director, Mercury One and The Nazarene Fund

Carolyn P. Hieronymus, Christians in Crisis

Elisabeth Hiltabrand, Christians in Crisis

Brian T. Kennedy, Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China

Philip Lark, Professor, Cyber Security Studies, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

Dede Laugesen, President & CEO, Save the Persecuted Christians

Col. Rob Maness, U.S. Air Force (Ret.); CEO and Owner, Iron Liberty Group LLC

Bart Marcois, Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs

Tidal “Ty” McCoy, Former Secretary of the Air Force (Acting)

Barbara McElroy, Member, Christians in Crisis

Roxann Moss, Director of Administration, Christians in Crisis

Col. Grant F. Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)

George Parker, Executive Director, Revealing Light Ministries

Dr. Jorge Parrott, President, CMM.World

George K. Rasley Jr., Managing Editor, ConservativeHQ.com

Suzanne Scholte, Chairman, North Korea Freedom Coalition

Capt. Carl Otis Schuster, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute

Dr. Karen Siegemund, President, American Freedom Alliance

Dr. Bradley Thayer, Fellow, American Freedom Alliance

Wendy Wright, President/CEO, Christian Freedom International

Liz Yore, Founder, Yore Children_______
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