North Korea’s missile tests not ‘breach of trust’ — Trump

WASHINGTON: North Korean missile launches over the past week have not affected Donald Trump’s relationship with Kim Jong Un, the US president said Friday, in a change of course after initially expressing his dissatisfaction.

Pyongyang fired two shortrange missiles Thursday following an earlier drill the previous Saturday — the first in 18 months.

The North had not launched any missiles since November 2017, shortly before once reclusive Kim embarked on diplomatic overtures.

“I don’t consider that a breach of trust at all. And, you know, at some point I may. But at this point no,” Trump said in an interview with Politico.

“These were short-range missiles and very standard stuff. Very standard.”

Twenty-four hours earlier, however, Trump showed his irritation and impatience on an issue where he hopes to succeed while all his predecessors — Republicans and Democrats — have failed.

“Nobody’s happy about it,” he told reporters, in reaction to the launches.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump added. “I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they are ready to negotiate.”

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, devoted its entire front page and half of page two to the launch on Friday, with 16 pictures, the main one of Kim watching the launch from a camouflaged shelter.

Despite recent threats by the North to seek a new path, the nature and presentation of the two recent launches demonstrate that Pyongyang does not intend to walk away from talks any time soon, analysts say. — AFP