President Trump said the roughly 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea are probably not safe from the threat of the North, according to a transcript of an unaired Fox News interview.

The president told a Fox interviewer that the forces deployed to the country are "brave" and understand the risk from Kim Jong Un's burgeoning nuclear program.

"We have 28,000 troops on the line and they're right there. And so nobody's safe," Trump said in an interview set to air Monday night. "We're probably not safe over here. If he gets the long-range missiles, we're not safe either."

Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have been increasing for weeks, and the president recently warned that a "major, major" conflict could erupt over the North's insistent pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles that experts fear could reach the mainland U.S. within a few years.

The U.S. forces deployed to the Korean peninsula back the South and enforce the demilitarized zone with the North. Along with the nearly 50,000 troops stationed in nearby Japan, they make up the backbone of the American presence in the western Pacific.

The Navy has recently deployed warships to the peninsula, including a carrier strike group and cruise missile-equipped submarine, to give Trump options if conflict breaks out.