Trump seeks to rekindle bromance with Kim Jong Un

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North Korea fires ballistic missiles after Trump cuts military drills with South Korea

North Korea fires ballistic missiles after Trump cuts military drills with South Korea

President Trump is pushing to rekindle his first-term bromance with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, expressing his desire for another rendezvous after reducing joint military exercises with South Korea in an effort to appease the dictator. 

The president met with Kim three times during his first term, but ultimately, denuclearization talks stalled and the relationship was left at an impasse. Kim has shown no interest in diplomacy under the Biden administration or during Trump 2.0. His sister, a top adviser, shrugged off Trump’s overtures this week. 

Experts warn that more meetings with Kim could be both fruitless and destructive to its crucial alliance with South Korea.

“It’s pretty clear from the first term that he views America’s relationship with South Korea as a complicating factor in his ability to negotiate directly with Kim,” Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said of Trump. “The main question I’m asking right now is: What’s Kim’s price going to be for face-to-face meetings with Trump?”

Sobolik noted that in Trump’s first term, scaling down military exercises with South Korea did eventually lead to a meeting with Kim, but it’s doubtful that that’s going to be enough to get Kim to the table this time.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that he plans to meet with Kim later this year but didn’t give any more details on when or where it could take place.

“The fact that I get along with him — that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said of Kim. “He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen. If I was president, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. But he’s got them.” 

The Wall Street Journal reported........

© The Hill