Category: International Headlines

A lot of people don’t realize the bureaucracy that getting test kits out to the public has had to go through initially. I guess we will see if the President is able to get these foreign made test kits approved by the FDA in expedient manner:

South Korea’s president said Donald Trump asked South Korea for help with coronavirus testing kits and other equipment, and officials offered to send what they could as the United States struggles to cope with the pandemic.

Moon Jae-in’s comments come as the South reported a slight uptick in the number of confirmed cases on Tuesday, raising the total to 9,137 but remaining far below the peak of 909 infections on Feb. 29.

Authorities blamed a large jump in imported cases, prompting them to impose a two-week quarantine on all visitors arriving from the United States, in addition to that already imposed on Europeans.

Trump made the request during a 23-minute phone conversation to discuss cooperation against the virus, according to the Blue House.

“Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump made a request to us for the urgent provision of test kits and quarantine products,” Moon said Wednesday during a visit to Seegene Inc., a Seoul-based company that develops diagnostic solutions.

The comment elaborated on a transcript of the phone conversation showing that Moon was willing to provide as much equipment as it could spare but noted possible limitations because of the U.S. need for approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

“When President Moon explained that FDA approval may be required, President Trump said he would take immediate action to ensure that approval is granted within the day,” according to the transcript.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

That did not take very long to make this common sense decision to postpone the Olympic Games until next year:

The 2020 Olympics, which were scheduled to begin July 24 in Tokyo, have been postponed to a date “no later than summer 2021” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee announced the decision Tuesday amid mounting pressure from athletes and various stakeholders.

“In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community,” the IOC said in a statement.

Yahoo Sports

You can read more at the link.

Here is the new Interpol chief, hopefully he has a better fate than the last one:

South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang has been elected as new chief of global police organization Interpol, officials in Seoul said Wednesday.

Kim, who had served as chief of South Korea’s Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency and vice president of Interpol, will become the first South Korean to head the global police body.

Here is yet another example of why President Trump calls them the “fake news” media:

Donald Trump threatened Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he would ship 25 million Mexicans to his country, one of a series of bizarre missives that jarred fellow leaders at last week’s acrimonious G7 meet, according to a report on Friday.

The Group of Seven summit gathering of top industrialized democracies finished in disarray after the US president abruptly rejected its consensus statement and bitterly attacked Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Behind the scenes, Trump’s counterparts were dismayed by verbal jabs on topics ranging from trade to terrorism and migration, The Wall Street Journal said, quoting European officials who were present.

At one point he described migration as a big problem for Europe then said to Abe: “Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” creating a sense of irritation in the room, according to an EU official.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but Trump did not “threaten” Shinzo Abe as this article claims.  He was clearly using sarcasm to make a point to the people in the room.  Any journalist publishing articles insinuating that Trump literally meant to round up 25 million illegal immigrants and ship them to Japan are clearly dishonest and part of the fake news problem.

It looks like Kim Jong-un is once again getting a free ride during his visit to Singapore, courtesy of the government of Singapore:

Most Singaporeans are excited about their country playing host to the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

But not all are happy about the city-state bearing the cost of the summit slated to be held at the Capella Hotel on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa, June 12.

Proponents believe that this is a great chance for Singapore to upgrade its international image, so the government and people are taking a strategic approach.

In other words, paying the direct costs for North Korea, such as lodging, transport and dining, can be a monetary loss in the short-term, but successful hosting the summit will bring greater value for the country.

“This kind of opportunity does not come often. I think we can afford to bear the cost and it will help leverage our international status,” said a senior executive at one of the five-star hotels in Singapore on condition of anonymity.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Front page of South Korea’s biggest newspaper, The Chosun Ilbo, today pic.twitter.com/ERKdPIPXM1

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 15, 2018

President Trump is as expected getting bashed for pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal with claims that it will impact his ability to negotiate with Kim Jong-un:

President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is a major setback to US negotiating credibility and will complicate efforts to reach an agreement with Pyongyang over its own more advanced weapons programme, analysts say.

Trump is set to hold a much-anticipated and unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the coming weeks to negotiate over Pyongyang’s arsenal, after it last year carried out by far its most powerful nuclear test to date and launched missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

But the US president Tuesday pulled Washington out of the 2015 accord with Teheran, pouring scorn on the “disastrous” agreement and describing it an “embarrassment” to the United States ― although European signatories and the IAEA say Iran has complied with its obligations.

Antony Blinken, who was deputy secretary of state under Barack Obama, said the White House move “makes getting to yes with North Korea that much more challenging”.

“Why would Kim … believe any commitments President Trump makes when he arbitrarily tears up an agreement with which the other party is complying?” he asked on Twitter.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but it can be argued that if the Obama administration thought the Iran nuclear deal was so great why did they not try and lobby the Senate to consent to the treaty as the Constitution requires?  Consent from the Senate would have made it much harder for the President to withdraw from the treaty.  This is what I will be looking for if President Trump is able to strike a deal with the North Koreans; will he try to get consent from the Senate?

As far as impacts to negotiating with Kim Jong-un, I think it is arguable that Trump is sending a message that North Korea will need to agree to denuclearize or there will not be a deal.

Even the North Koreans have decided to join in and bash the US for announcing that the US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem:

North Korea has lambasted US President Donald Trump for recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, renewing its description of him as a “dotard” in a statement released Saturday on state media.

Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un have traded threats of war and personal insults in recent months as tensions remain high over the North’s missile and nuclear threats.

Now the hermit state has joined near-universal condemnation of the US president’s decision on Jerusalem, calling it a “reckless, wicked act”.

“Considering the fact that the mentally deranged dotard openly called for a total destruction of a sovereign state at the UN, this action is not so surprising”, a foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“But this move clearly shows to the whole world who is the destroyer of world peace and security, pariah and rogue in the international community”, he said, using epithets usually reserved for the North.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but last I checked President Trump was not the one causing violence in the Middle East instead Palestinian rioters were.

We're thinking of the hurricane but tomorrow is 9/11. I reread this story every year. So should you. https://t.co/Vf1c2uxgiG

— Arie Friedman, MD (@ArieFriedman) September 11, 2017