President Donald Trump is currently on a 13-day tour of Asia, arriving in South Korea Tuesday, and he has made countering North Korea's nuclear and missile programs a key focus of the trip. | Mandel Ngan/Getty Images White House seeks another $4B to counter North Korean threats

President Donald Trump has requested another $4 billion for the Pentagon to counter North Korean threats in a new budget amendment sent to Congress today.

The president is currently on a 13-day tour of Asia, arriving in South Korea Tuesday, and he has made countering North Korea's nuclear and missile programs a key focus of the trip.


"This request supports additional efforts to detect, defeat and defend against any North Korean use of ballistic missiles against the United States, its deployed forces, allies, or partners," the request said.

The White House is asking for a total of an additional $5.9 billion, including $1.2 billion to support growing troop levels in Afghanistan.

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The request, obtained by POLITICO, also includes another $700 million to repair damages to the Navy destroyers USS Fitzgerald and John McCain after the destroyers were involved in separate collisions in the Pacific that killed 17 sailors.

The proposed spending levels are an amendment to Trump’s first Pentagon budget request this spring, when he sought $603 billion in base funding.

The House Appropriations Committee is reviewing the document and plans to consider the administration’s revised spending levels as part of the deal to fund the government beyond the current spending resolution that expires on Dec. 8, according to a GOP aide.

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.