Trump Changes North Korea Tune. Maybe.
President Trump sounded considerably more measured in his latest comments on North Korea, appearing to suggest in Seoul that he is open to negotiations with Kim Jong Un’s regime. But it’s too soon to know whether the latest remarks reflect a real shift in thinking, writes Joshua Keating for Slate.“It’s possible Trump was simply telling his hosts what they wanted to hear as he visits Seoul, a city of millions of people within range of North Korean artillery,” Keating writes. South Korean President Moon Jae-in “has been an advocate of finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and Trump’s threats of war have prompted alarm in South Korea. Trump’s more conciliatory tone also comes a few days after a Pentagon assessment that a full ground invasion would be the only way to secure all of North Korea’s nuclear facilities ‘with complete certainty.’ Such a scenario would likely cause thousands, or even millions, of casualties.
“It’s a lot harder to talk tough about fire and fury when you’re looking right at the people who would be burned.”
Thumbs up for Trump in Korea. Genuine policy shift or not, the measured tone went down well in South Korea, a Korea Times editorial suggests.
“However tattered his image may be on the home front, Trump's performance in Seoul, on the first day of his two-day visit, was reassuring. In a joint press conference after a summit with President Moon Jae-in, he stated Korea was important and there has been no skipping it in important decision making. His assurances were strong enough to put Moon’s detractors to shame,” the paper argues.
Trump’s big speech. President Trump will finish his visit to South Korea on Wednesday [Tuesday evening 11/07/17, ET] with an address on North Korea at the Korean National Assembly, CNN reports.
“Trump's advisers scheduled the speech ahead of his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to lay down his views.”
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