Trump tweet hints at new strategy on North Korea

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump appears to have lost faith in China’s ability to pressure North Korea to curb its abusive behaviour, throwing into question how his administration plans to contain the rogue nation’s growing nuclear threat.

A day after American university student Otto Warmbier, who spent 17 months in captivity in Pyongyang, died in his hometown of Cincinnati on Monday, Trump called his treatment “a total disgrace” and suggested he had given up hope that Beijing could exert meaningful leverage on dictator Kim Jong Un’s regime, tweeting: “I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, but it has not worked out… I know China tried!”

The president’s declaration marks a potential turn in his administration’s strategy on North Korea, which had focused on ramping up international economic and political pressure on Kim, especially from China, on which North Korea’s economy relies. Trump had lobbied Chinese President Xi Jinping to take stronger action on Chinese banks and entities doing business with North Korea.Trump had also opened the door for talks with Kim, saying in an interview two months ago that he’d be “honoured” to meet the North Korean leader under the right circumstances.

But on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the White House was “clearly moving further away” from engagement in the wake of Warmbier’s death.

“It should never, ever be allowed to happen,” Trump said of Warmbier’s experience and death, before side-swiping the efforts of his predecessor Barack Obama’s administration to free Warmbier.