Donald Trump tried to cozy up to Kim Jong Un this week. North Korea answered by outright humiliating him, followed by a volley of missiles.
Trump is getting clowned by one of the most brutal and backwards dictatorships on earth. I’ve got the rest of that story for you below, but first I need to remind you that independent journalism only survives if the readers who depend on it choose to support it.
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Trump has spent the last few days scaling back major U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises and advertising (once again) his “very good relationship” with the brutal North Korean dictator. He also suggested secret negotiations are already underway and that a meeting could happen this year — a series of developments that look like an attempt to manufacture a diplomatic win during a time when his administration is still tangled in a grinding conflict with Iran.
Kim Yo Jong, the dictator’s sister and one of his closest advisers, issued a blunt response to the U.S. on Wednesday:
“As for reports coming out of Washington that there has recently been communication between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, I know absolutely nothing about it, and it would probably be the only matter related to our supreme leadership’s foreign policy of which I am unaware.”
She dismissed Trump’s outreach as “not even worth commenting on” and made clear that his scaling back of military exercises with the South does nothing to change his “provocative and aggressive” character.
“If the U.S. side calculates that it can portray the measures it has recently taken as some kind of ‘goodwill gesture,’ it will not get the response it wants,” she added.
Hours later, North Korea conducted a test by launching around ten short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.
Trump brags about his “good relationship” with Kim Jong Un during a recent press conference.
This is not the first time Trump has unsuccessfully tried to curry North Korea’s favor. During his first term, he met with Kim three times while openly praising the “love letters” they exchanged. Those summits produced dramatic photo ops and some short-lived progress on denuclearization.
The Hanoi meeting in particular collapsed when the two sides could not agree on the scope of sanctions relief. Trump has never stopped selling the idea that his personal rapport is a unique asset, and North Korea has never stopped testing that claim.
This time the courtship included the early end of joint military drills Trump himself had previously defended. He called continuing the exercises “inappropriate and hostile.” Kim Yo Jong’s response made clear the gesture was neither impressive nor persuasive. She did offer one small consolation, however, noting that her brother still holds “fond personal memories and feelings” from their earlier meetings. Everything else about the current approach, she indicated, is being ignored.
Trump is still chasing the same personal breakthrough he has talked about for years. North Korea is answering with missiles and public indifference. So far, the “art of the deal” remains to be seen.
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