Wall Street Journal (September 6)
Vladimir Putin’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “underscores the global nature of the threat to U.S. interests.” Indeed, the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv this spring was partly “because America’s allies in Asia understand that Ukraine isn’t a distant squabble. Russia has its own Pacific ambitions, including militarizing the Kuril Islands, some of which Japan also claims. A Russia that prevails in Ukraine will provoke elsewhere. Mr. Putin is also the junior partner to the neighborhood’s No. 1 threat: The Chinese Communist Party.”
Tags: Allies, Asia, CCP, Global nature, Japan, Kim, Kuril Islands, Kyiv, North Korea, Pacific ambitions, Prime minister, Provoke, Putin, Russia, Threat, U.S. interests, Ukraine
Washington Post (March 27)
“North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has a way of reminding the world that he has not gone away.” North Korea’s launch of “its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile ever, in defiance of sanctions and prohibitions” is a reminder of a “foreign-policy headache for the United States and its allies.” The North’s “potential for trouble should not be underestimated.” Kim does not deserve “concessions for his unruly behavior. There is a need for some fresh thinking about how to resolve this long-festering threat.”
Tags: Allies, Ballistic missile, Concessions, Festering, Foreign policy, Fresh thinking, Intercontinental, Kim, Launch, North Korea, Prohibitions, Sanctions, Threat, Trouble, U.S., Unruly
CBS News (December 20)
“Kim Jong Un will mark the end of his first decade in power armed to the teeth, but more isolated than ever as he tries to battle a killer virus in one of the world’s poorest countries. He’s no closer to what he really wants, which is relief from devastating sanctions and normal relations with the rest of the world.”
Tags: Armed, Decade, Devastating, Isolated, Kim, Normal, Poorest, Power, Relations, Relief, Sanctions, Virus
The Korea Times (July 1)
There are clearly “concerns that the one-time meeting may end up as an anticlimax. Trump probably needed such global grandstanding…to boost his re-election bid. For his part, Kim might have wanted to use his DMZ meeting with Trump as propaganda to raise his international standing and tighten his grip on power.” Still, one must hope that “Trump and Kim will reach a grand deal to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. Their ‘handshake of peace’ should be translated into complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula.”
Tags: Anticlimax, DMZ, Grand deal, Grandstanding, Handshake, Kim, North Korea, Nuclear issue, Peace, Propaganda, Re-election, South Korea, Trump, U.S.
The Hill (June 30)
“The images from the DMZ looked a bit like a summit between leaders of two crime families; indeed, Trump had to ask Kim if North Korea’s key negotiators with the United States are still alive.” Whether the meeting ultimately amounts “to a meaningful step toward peace on the divided Korean peninsula or is a cheap and illusory ‘reality’ show, with no lasting significance, is difficult to know at this point.”
Tags: Alive, Crime families, DMZ, Kim, Meaningful, Negotiators, North Korea, Summit, Trump, U.S.
Time (February 28)
“Trump landed in Hanoi early this week eager for a victory as drama was unfolding in Washington.” Instead, he left “empty-handed,” with nothing to show from the second summit with Kim Jong Un.
Tags: Drama, Eager, Empty-handed, Hanoi, Kim, Summit, Trump, Unfolding, Victory, Washington
Washington Post (February 25)
“Trump’s delusional mind-set makes him a sitting duck for Kim to trade flattery (of Trump) for concessions (from Trump). Kim already achieved a level of respectability no other North Korean leader has attained—without a single meaningful and irreversible concession—simply by virtue of a summit that turned into a PR coup.”
Tags: Concession, Concessions, Delusional, Flattery, Irreversible, Kim, Meaningful, North Korea, PR coup, Respectability, Summit, Trump
Time (January 22)
“Trump’s desperation for a North Korea deal may play into Kim’s hand.” An overeager Trump might sign a sweet sounding, but dangerous, peace agreement that leaves the region more war prone, especially if it removes the rationale for stationing U.S. troops nearby. “What does this mean for South Korea? Worst case scenario is that it’s left exposed and isolated by the U.S. with a fanatical foe just miles away.”
Tags: Dangerous, Deal, Desperation, Exposed, Isolated, Kim, North Korea, Overeager, Peace, South Korea, Troops, Trump, U.S., War
Newsweek (June 13)
Kim was the “undisputed winner” and rather “sadly, this isn’t really up for debate.” Kim successfully “appealed to Trump’s vanity…. On its own, putting the suspension of our defensive joint military exercises on the table in exchange for nothing concrete is a jaw-dropping concession from both a diplomatic and a military readiness perspective. In addition, it seems the Defense Department was not consulted, nor were our South Korean allies.”
Tags: Allies, Concession, Defense Dept., Diplomatic, Jaw-dropping, Joint military exercises, Kim, Military, Nothing concrete, Readiness, South Korea, Trump, Undisputed, Vanity, Winner
Wall Street Journal (June 12)
“Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un both received what they most wanted from their one-day summit in Singapore on Tuesday…. Whether this photo-op summitry achieved anything beyond the bonhomie is a lot less clear.” There is little indication of real progress. In fact, “if the past is a guide, all of this will be subject to painful and perhaps endless negotiation, and the North will insist on concessions from the U.S. at every stage. Having committed to talks, Mr. Trump will be under pressure to make more concessions lest Kim walk away.”
Tags: Concessions, Kim, Negotiation, North Korea, Photo-op, Progress, Singapore, Summit, Trump, U.S.
