In an apparent contradiction of his national security adviser, US President Donald Trump yesterday downplayed North Korean missile tests, saying on Twitter from Tokyo that they are not a concern for him.
Trump also said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s criticism of one of his Democratic rivals, former US vice president Joe Biden, had made him smile.
The remarks were the latest example of Trump’s willingness to publicly undermine senior advisers, flout democratic norms and side with totalitarian leaders, even on the world stage.
Photo: Reuters / Courtesy of Instagram @kantei, Prime Minister’s Office, Japan
He did so this time during a four-day state visit to Japan where he would become the first leader to meet with the country’s new emperor.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Trump said in one of a flurry of early morning Twitter messages that suggested he had spent little time sleeping after the lengthy flight to Asia.
“Some” of his “people” appear to include White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, who told reporters at a briefing on Saturday ahead of Trump’s arrival that a series of short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month were a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
“In terms of violating UN Security Council resolutions, there is no doubt about that,” said Bolton, responding to the May 4 and 9 tests that ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017.
Trump ignored a shouted question yesterday about whether he agreed with Bolton’s assessment.
Trump and other administration officials have sought to downplay the significance of the tests, insisting they do not violate an agreement Trump reached with Kim for a moratorium on launches.
“The moratorium was focused, very focused, on intercontinental missile systems, the ones that threaten the United States,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a television interview.
That raised alarm bells in Japan, where short-range missiles pose a serious threat because of the country’s proximity to North Korea.
Unlike several other leaders in the region, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has yet to meet with Kim, leaving Japan to rely on the US as an intermediary and advocate with North Korea.
Abe has offered to meet Kim without preconditions in an effort to restore diplomatic ties.
Trump said on Twitter that he had “confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me,” while at the same time embracing Kim’s attacks on Biden, whose name he misspelled.
Trump said he “smiled” when Kim “called Swampman Joe Bidan a low IQ individual, & worse.”
“Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?” Trump asked.
North Korea this week labeled Biden a “fool of low IQ” and an “imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being” after the US presidential hopeful accused Trump of cozying up to “dictators and tyrants” like Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin during his campaign launch speech.
Biden’s campaign would not comment on the record yesterday, but a spokesman for his campaign, Andrew Bates, said on Wednesday that “given vice president Biden’s record of standing up for American values and interests, it’s no surprise that North Korea would prefer that Donald Trump remain in the White House.”
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