Tag: Donald Trump

If the White House settles for something less than full denuclearization a deal can likely be reached with North Korea:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he will make deals with North Korea “very quickly” if reelected in November.

Trump was referring to his administration’s stalled efforts to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for concessions.

“If and when we win, we will make deals with Iran very quickly. We’ll make deals with North Korea very quickly,” he said during a press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“Now whatever happened to the word North Korea? You haven’t seen that, have you?” he continued. “If I didn’t win the election in 2016, our country would now be — maybe it would be over by now — but in war with North Korea.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the best deal North Korea will ever agree to is “pretend denuclearization“.

The fact that President Trump does not like dealing with President Moon should come as no surprise. The other claim from the governor is that Trump said Koreans were “terrible”:

U.S. President Donald Trump told governors in February that he doesn’t like dealing with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and thinks the South Korean people are “terrible,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday.

Hogan, a Republican, wrote in The Washington Post that Trump had harsh words for South Korea, the birthplace of the governor’s wife, Yumi, during a private dinner sponsored by the Republican Governors Association.

“I don’t remember him mentioning the virus,” Hogan said, “but he talked about how much he respected President Xi Jinping of China; how much he liked playing golf with his buddy ‘Shinzo,’ Prime Minister Abe of Japan; how well he got along with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

“Then, the jarring part,” he continued. “Trump said he really didn’t like dealing with President Moon from South Korea. The South Koreans were ‘terrible people,’ he said, and he didn’t know why the United States had been protecting them all these years. ‘They don’t pay us,’ Trump complained.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if true based on the context it sounds like Trump wasn’t saying Korean in general are “terrible”, but the Koreans in the government are terrible for not paying more the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.

Maybe I missed it, but when was vandalism ever legalized?:

President Donald Trump this week threatened a decade of jail time for protesters defacing and toppling statues on federal lands, citing a little known law designed to punish vandalism at American veteran cemeteries.

On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that he had authorized federal officials to “arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.”

But no presidential authorization is necessary.

Military Times

You can read more at the link, but if you haven’t heard the BLM folks are now tearing down statues honoring abolitionists.

Here is the latest headline from John Bolton’s book:

U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t want South Korean President Moon Jae-in to join him during his third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in June 2019, according to John Bolton, the former U.S. national security adviser, in his memoir.    
   
“The Room Where It Happened,” the Bolton memoir set to be published Tuesday, details the three Kim-Trump meetings and the considerable amount of energy expended by Bolton to thwart any U.S. concessions to North Korea.  
   
In a tweet on June 28, 2019, Trump — who was on an official trip to Japan and Korea — offered to shake hands and say hello with North Korean leader Kim, which led to the impromptu meeting days later on June 30 in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom. This marked the first time a sitting U.S. president stepped onto North Korean soil, and took place during Trump’s visit to Seoul for a summit with Moon.    
   
According to Bolton, “Trump wanted Moon nowhere around, but Moon was determined to be present, making it a trilateral meeting if he could.” Bolton had “entertained the faint hope that this dispute with Moon could tank the whole thing, because it was certain Kim didn’t want Moon around.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It looks like North Korea wants to stay in the headlines and dump on Trump like everyone else it seems like now a days:

North Korea on Friday again vowed to build up its military force to counter what it perceives as U.S. threats and said there would be little reason for a personal relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if Washington persists with sanctions and pressure.

On the two-year anniversary of the leaders’ first summit, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon said the North would never again gift Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast as foreign policy achievements unless it gets something substantial in return.

“The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made in the DPRK-U.S. relations simply by maintaining personal relations between our supreme leadership and the U.S. President,” Ri said in a statement carried by state media, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest from President Trump on the health of Kim Jong-un:

President Trump was asked about the widespread speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a White House news conference on the coronavirus on Monday. Trump suggested he knew “exactly” how Kim is doing, but declined to reveal that information. 

“Yes I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now,” said Trump when he was asked to provide an update on Kim’s condition. “I just wish him well.”

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the Kim Jong-un health watch:

 U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not know about the health condition of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but hopes he is doing well amid unconfirmed reports that the young leader may be seriously ill.

“These are reports that came out, and we don’t know. We don’t know,” Trump said at a White House coronavirus press briefing. “I can only say this: I wish him well. Because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, that’s a very serious condition, as you know, but I wish him well.”

Trump said he doesn’t place “too much credence” in any report put out by CNN. Citing an unidentified U.S. official, CNN first reported that the U.S. is looking into intelligence that Kim is in “grave danger” after a surgery.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I think President Trump’s comments show how issues with South Korea are on the top of his mind:

President Donald Trump is apparently not a fan of ”Parasite,” his biggest complaint being that the movie was made in South Korea.

Trump started talking about the Academy Awards during a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday. Parasite was named best picture, becoming the first non-English-language film to get the top honor.

”What the hell was that all about?” Trump said. ”We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them best movie of the year. Was it good? I don’t know.”

Neon, the U.S. distributor for the subtitled film, shot back on Twitter. ”Understandable. He can’t read,” Neon tweeted.

The audience booed when Trump mentioned the Academy Awards and then cheered when he said: ”Can we get like ”Gone with the Wind’ back please? ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ so many great movies.”

Korea Times

Let me translate Trump for people that don’t understand him. It appears he has not even seen the movie; what he is complaining about is that he believes Hollywood should be making better American made movies instead of promoting foreign made movies during the Academy Awards. This is all consistent with Trump’s America first rhetoric he was been advocating for years on.