Tag: Donald Trump

It looks like another Trump-Kim summit may happen next month:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he may meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his upcoming trip to Asia, raising the possibility of renewed summit diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.

Asked by a reporter at the White House on whether he plans to meet Kim during the trip, Trump replied, “I may,” adding, “That’ll be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him.”

Trump plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, scheduled for November 18-19 in Shenzhen.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Trump is still friendly with Kim Jong-un. I guess we will see if this friendliness turns into any long term agreement in the future:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he “gets along great” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with leaders of nuclear-armed nations.

Trump made the remarks during a campaign rally in Ohio ahead of the U.S. midterm elections while discussing his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and defending his ties with leaders of major powers.

“I get along great with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said, adding, “Isn’t it nice to get along with the leaders of massive nations, massive nuclear nations?”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Really nothing new coming out of Trump’s meeting with President Lee other than the various bilaterla issues they have been working are continuing to move forward:

President Lee Jae Myung held a 30-minute summit with US President Donald Trump Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to address key bilateral issues, including the wartime operational control transfer.

The two leaders affirmed their shared commitment to deepening cooperation in the field of nuclear-powered submarines, enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, shipbuilding, and the transfer of wartime OPCON of the South Korean military from the US to South Korea, Cheong Wa Dae’s director of national security Wi Sung-lac said in a briefing to reporters Tuesday.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, follow-up coordination regarding these issues will be discussed in Washington next week.

The meeting came ahead of an annual security consultative meeting between the allies expected in November, drawing keen attention to whether talks for the wartime OPCON transfer would be on the table.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I guess John Bolton hasn’t started his jail sentence yet because he is still out publishing articles attacking Trump:

 Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday raised the possibility of President Donald Trump meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang for a new summit, while noting the “very high” risk of renewed summitry between them.

Bolton, who served as a top security aide to Trump from 2018-2019, made the remarks during an online forum as Trump has expressed his intention to meet Kim later this year. Trump held three meetings with Kim during his first term: the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.

“I think Trump would look at Pyongyang because … he’s had the first meeting with the North Korean leader (in Singapore). So doing it again breaks no new ground. It’s not a big PR stunt,” he said during the forum hosted by the Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS).

“He’s been to the DMZ and walked in North Korea, so he can’t do that again. So what else is there really except to go to Pyongyang?” he added, referring to the Panmunjom meeting inside the Demilitarized Zone where the two leaders briefly crossed the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas.

Bolton assessed that Trump seeks a meeting with Kim as he wants “pictures” and “distraction” from challenging issues at home and abroad.

“(Trump) wants something other than worrying about the war in the Middle East or prices in the United States, or the November election,” he said, referring to the U.S. midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake.

Trump is also looking for the “biggest welcome any North Korean leader has given a foreign leader,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Trump is going to have a long memory if President Lee looks for any favors from the U.S.:

U.S. President Donald Trump has once again singled out South Korea for not helping with his war on Iran, reiterating criticism he has voiced several times in recent months.

“We got very little help from other countries,” Trump said in a primetime interview with Fox News that aired Sunday, as he complained that the United States spends billions of dollars helping other countries without receiving enough support in return.

Trump then pointed specifically to South Korea.

“We helped them, but when it came to helping us, I didn’t put on a heavy sell, but I just said, ‘Would you like to participate?’ and they all said, ‘No, thank you,’” he said. “And I said, ‘I’m going to remember that to myself.’”

Trump went on to suggest the United States should reconsider spending money to help countries unwilling to reciprocate.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Bruce Klingner has the same opinion I have that Kim Jong-un right now doesn’t really need anything from the U.S. to warrant a summit. Right now all their needs are being met due to their growing relationship with Russia. Why would Kim chum up to Trump now and possibly upset Putin? Trump would have to offer a deal Kim can’t refuse in order to secure a summit. I think at best what happens is that at the regional forum in China in November the two get pictured greeting each other and shaking hands:

A prominent expert said Tuesday that he sees a “slim-to-none” chance of another meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, noting that the resumption of their summitry depends on how low the United States sets the bar or how willing Trump is to make concessions.

Bruce Klingner, senior fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, made the remarks during a forum in Washington, amid speculation that Trump could seek a summit with Kim during his next trip to Asia, likely to attend a regional forum in Shenzhen, China in November.

“I think overall, the chance of a meeting is sort of slim to none, and slim just rode out of town,” he said during the forum hosted by the Korea Economic Institute of America.

“But it could still happen. It depends on sort of how low the U.S. sets the bar or how willing Trump is to offer concessions,” he added. (……..)

The expert pointed out that Pyongyang does not feel the need to engage with the U.S. for assistance given its deepening cooperation with Russia and improved ties with China.

“North Korea right now feels (it is) in the strongest position it’s been for quite some time. It’s getting 14 to 20 billion or more, or billions of dollars in food, fuel, funding, and military technology from Russia. Its trade with China has largely resumed to pre-COVID levels,” he said.

“It’s getting about a billion dollars a year from cryptocurrency crime, so it doesn’t need the U.S. and sanctions relief as it did several years ago.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I didn’t think this 20% fee idea was going to last very long and sure enough 24 hours later it is gone:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dropped his proposal to impose a 20 percent “reimbursement” fee on cargo shipped through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, saying that he will replace it with trade and investment deals with Middle Eastern countries.

Trump made the remarks in a social media post, just a day after he announced that the United States will serve as the “guardian” of the strait and be “reimbursed” at a 20 percent rate on all cargo shipped through the waterway that Iran had all but closed amid the Middle East conflict.

“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20 percent United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. (……)

During a press availability, Trump said that he scrapped the proposed fee as Gulf state officials told him over the phone that they would like to “do it a different way” and invest in the U.S. “with billions and billions of dollars.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems President Lee unlike some leaders in Europe has been doing a good job managing his relationship with Trump:

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump had follow-up discussions on Trump’s earlier request for Seoul’s assistance in building military vessels at the ongoing North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, Lee’s presidential spokesperson said Wednesday.

The two held such discussions the previous day at a dinner banquet hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, according to Kang Yu-jung.

Lee earlier said the U.S. president had asked him whether South Korea could help build U.S. military vessels when they met at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, last month.

In response, Lee said he would cooperate with Trump’s request as fully as possible, highlighting the advanced capabilities of South Korea’s shipbuilding companies, according to Kang.

The leaders also agreed to continue working-level consultations between their countries to discuss details of the proposed cooperation. 

The encounter between Lee and Trump came just three weeks after they met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.

The leaders recalled their promise at the G7 summit to play golf together, and agreed to pursue Lee’s visit to the United States at an appropriate time, which could include a round of golf, the spokesperson said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.