Presumptive Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump appears to be finding some friends in North Korea.
Trump has been getting good press this week in the North’s carefully controlled media, first in an opinion piece that praised him as “wise” and full of foresight and then yesterday in the official mouthpiece of the ruling Worker’s Party itself.
Both articles noted how his suggestions he would be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and wants to rethink and possibly withdraw US troops from South Korea have created a “Trump shock” in Seoul.
Photo: Reuters
The state-run DPRK Today Web site started off the Trump praise on Tuesday by juxtaposing the “wise” Trump with what it called a “dull” Hillary — describing Democratic US presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton by only her first name.
In the lengthy column, Trump is described as a “wise politician and presidential candidate with foresight” for his comments about the US potentially withdrawing its troops from South Korea if Seoul does not bear the costs.
It also noted his public willingness to talk directly with the North Korean leadership if he becomes president.
The column said Clinton is “dull” for promising to pursue an “Iran-type model” to solve nuclear issues with the North.
Trump told the New York Times in March that South Korea and Japan should pay much more for the US troops based in their countries — about 28,000 in South Korea and about 50,000 in Japan.
In a more recent interview with the Reuters news agency, Trump said he was willing to meet with Kim.
“I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him,” he said.
The removal of US troops from the Korean Peninsula and direct talks with a US president dovetail nicely with objectives Pyongyang has held for years — although undoubtedly for different reasons than the US real-estate magnate.
The North wants the US troops to leave because it sees them as a direct threat to the regime’s security and has long wanted talks with Washington, ostensibly toward a peace treaty to end the 1950-1953 Korean War, that would boost its international status and acknowledge that North Korea is a nuclear state.
“There are many ‘positive aspects’ to take away from Trump’s ‘inflammatory campaign promises,’” the DPRK Today column said, highlighting Trump’s indications that Seoul should pay “100 percent” of the cost for US troops stationed in the South and, if not, Washington should pull them out.
“Yes, go away, now!” it said. “Who knew that the ‘Yankee Go Home’ slogan we shouted so enthusiastically could come true so easily like this? The day that the ‘Yankee Go Home’ slogan becomes reality would be the day of unification.”
The Korean War that solidified the division of North and South Korea ended in an armistice, not a full peace treaty.
The DPRK Today Web site is considered to be a propaganda outlet aimed at readers outside the North, although its position within the government is not clear. While not as colorful or overtly supportive as the DPRK Today column, the ruling party’s official Rodong Sinmun editorial said the emergence of Trump is causing anxiety in South Korea because of his comments about the potential US troop withdrawal.
It said the South Korean government should stop living as a servant of foreign forces and come back to the side of the Korean nation, but did not comment directly on Trump as a candidate.
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