Get you up to speed: What’s going on with Trump and Kim Jong-un? | News World
Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the upcoming United States military exercises with South Korea, stating they send an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to North Korea. His remarks came as he sought to strengthen ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, underscoring a perceived shift in his diplomatic stance.
The United States is set to conduct joint military exercises with South Korea, though specific dates and operational details have not been disclosed. Observers note that ongoing developments in North Korea’s military activities, including ballistic missile tests, create a complex backdrop for these exercises.
Donald Trump has voiced his dissatisfaction with upcoming US military exercises alongside South Korea, asserting that they are costly and send a hostile signal to North Korea, which he claims has been “unthreatening and respectful.” Experts warn that such statements may undermine the US’s long-term strategy regarding North Korea and suggest that other authoritarian leaders do not view Trump as a serious negotiator.
What remains unclear — The impact of Trump’s statements on US military exercises on North Korea’s future actions and rhetoric remains uncertain.
Trump criticises US military exercises with South Korea amid Kim Jong-un ties
The US President has now slammed a joint military exercise with South Korea (Picture: API)
Vladimir Putin. Nayib Bukele. Bashar al-Assad. Kim Jong-Un.
It’s no secret that Donald Trump likes to cosy up to authoritarian leaders, often praising them for their hard-line stances and posing for photos with them.
Now, to appease Kim Jong Un, Trump has taken to social media to complain about how he ‘isn’t happy’ with the United States’ upcoming military exercises with South Korea.
‘These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,’ he added.
Trump’s sudden scramble to seemingly cosy up to Kim is a bit more telling about the US President than we realise, historian and propaganda analyst Ian Garner told WTX.
‘Trump seems to see strong men and dictators as, in some way, kindred spirits. I think he recognises something of himself in them.
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‘Men who get what they want and don’t give a damn about the rules? That’s Trump’s life philosophy.’ Dr Garner explained.
The two leaders have become closer in recent years (Picture: AFP)
‘It’s been the way he’s approached the world since the ’80s, back in the New York real estate days, and certainly the way he approached The Apprentice. And it’s the way he approaches government today.
‘Maybe he sees Kim Jong-un, and certainly sees Putin, as people he can do business with because he thinks he recognises in them a little bit of himself.’
But the President’s remarks about North Korea being ‘unthreatening and respectful’ propose a quandary for Trump and Kim.
For years, Kim has been bragging about ballistic missile tests, and in 2024, North Korea began sending thousands of troops to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine.
Dr Garner added: ‘So, there’s a bit of a risk in actually undermining the much longer-term propaganda that the United States is the enemy, the US is evil, American leaders can’t be trusted.
‘But other authoritarian leaders around the world are clearly not taking Trump seriously at all. They don’t think that he’s a serious or threatening negotiator.
‘They don’t believe that he’s going to follow through on his threats, and that gives them permission to do what they want. And you’ve seen that most obviously in what’s unfolded in Iran over the last few months.’
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