TRUMP WANTS U.S. TROOPS BACK HOME
Some experts question prez’s ‘weird’ claim to have rapidly developed a ‘very special bond’ with Kim
KIM JONG Un’s charm offensive with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday have overshadowed a more sinister side of his regime — widespread human rights abuses, activists say.
IN A JAWDROPPING post-summit press conference lasting more than an hour, Donald Trump said he wanted to bring home the 3,00,000 or so US troops currently stationed in South Korea.
GONE WERE the days of “little rocket man” and “sick puppy” — names Trump had previously used for his summit buddy.
NOW KIM was praised as “talented”, “very smart”, a “good negotiator” who “loves his country very much”, according to the US President, who even showed off his armoured limousine to the North’s leader.
The June 12 Sentosa Agreement will be recorded as a historic event that has helped break down the last remaining Cold War legacy on Earth. I welcome the success of the summit. — MOON JAE-IN South Korean President
June 12: Experts and at least one former US ambassador have cast doubt on Donald Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un and the president’s “weird” claim to have rapidly developed a “very special bond” with the dictator.
The historic summit between the pair was described as “theatre” and “a show”, and a former senior general expressed concern that Mr Kim’s profile had been raised significantly without a major concessions on his part.
Gen In-Bum Chun, deputy commander of South Korea’s First Army until 2016 and now a senior adviser to the Korea corporate members of the Association of the US Army, said the “show” put on by Mr Trump was “very exciting”. But he said he still needed to see detail of North Korea’s intention to commit to “comprehensive, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement” of its nuclear arsenal.
Economic incentives for Pyongyang should come after denuclearisation, he said, but “at the same time, humanitarian activities and humanitarian aid can, I think, be inserted as incentives”.
“There is a very big possibility, as well as a danger, and it might not even be intentional by Kim’s design” that the dictator could emerge from the summit with his reputation strengthened even if he does not stick to any agreement, Gen Chun added in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme before details of the signed document were public.
Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, tweeted: “How does one develop a ‘very special bond’ after a few hours of meeting? That’s really weird to me with anyone, but with a North Korean dictator?”
When detail of the document signed by Mr Trump and Mr Kim became known, Mr McFaul added: “It means our negotiators achieved nothing new – not one new concession in exchange for legitimation [sic] of North Korean dictator.”