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US President Donald Trump speaks during a round table conference with Congressional leaders at the White House on Jan. 11. (Yonhap News)
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US President refuses to comment on whether he has actually talked to North Korean leader
US President Donald Trump said he has a “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Coming shortly after Trump indicated that he is open to dialogue with North Korea, these remarks suggest that Trump is gradually moving toward dialogue, analysts think. “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal during an interview that took place on Jan. 7 and that went to press on Jan. 11. “I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised,” Trump said, bragging about his relationship with Kim. When asked whether he had spoken with Kim, Trump said, ”I don’t want to comment on it. I’m not saying I have or haven’t. I just don’t want to comment.” Responding to claims that North Korea is attempting to drive a wedge in the South Korea-US alliance, Trump said, “If I were them, I would try. The difference is I’m president [of the US], other people aren’t. And I know more about wedges than any human being that’s lived.” These remarks hint at Trump’s confidence that, even if Pyongyang does have such intentions, the US is capable of containing them. Trump has frequently insulted Kim, calling him a bad person, a “madman” and “Rocket Man.” He described these remarks as part of a broad strategy: “All of the sudden somebody’s my best friend. I could give you 20 examples. You could give me 30. I’m a very flexible person.” The Wall Street Journal concluded that this signaled the possibility of a new, more open foreign policy after months of heightened tensions. “President Trump expressed his openness to holding talks between the United States and North Korea at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances,” the White House said in a summary of Trump’s phone conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Jan. 10. During a meeting with South Korean foreign correspondents in Washington on Jan. 11, a senior official in the South Korean government addressed the idea of “60 days without provocations,” which the US has stated is a precondition for initiating dialogue with the North. “I don’t think we need to take these preconditions about 30 or 60 days so literally anymore,” the official said, basically concluding that the threshold for beginning dialogue had been lowered. Some parts of the US press are taking a wait-and-see attitude on the real significance of Trump’s conciliatory remarks. “It is unclear whether that flexibility [mentioned by Trump] suggests a more permanent retreat from the angry exchanges with North Korea that Mr. Trump often stoked,” the New York Times said. The newspaper noted that Trump had only recently been waging psychological warfare against Kim Jong-un, “boasting that he has a bigger nuclear button.” In related news, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed how to handle North Korea during a telephone call with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Jan. 12. “The US’s firm commitment to achieving the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has been very helpful in facilitating progress in the high-level inter-Korean talks,” Kang said. Tillerson reportedly said that inter-Korean dialogue was “very encouraging” and called for close deliberation with South Korea and the US. Kang and Tillerson are planning to engage in bilateral talks about security and stability on the Korean Peninsula in Vancouver, Canada, with the talks scheduled to begin on Jan. 15. Lee Do-hoon, the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, held a series of meetings with Joseph Yun, the US State Department’s Special Representative for North Korea Policy, on Jan. 10 and 11, while Lee was visiting the US. By Jeon Jeong-yun, Noh Ji-won, staff reporters and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
