Take that! Pyongyang blasts Trump as too much like Obama
Tillerson’s recent trip to Asia appears to have loosened North Korean media’s lips
North Korea has a criticism of US President Donald Trump he probably wasn’t expecting: He’s too much like Barack Obama.
North Korea’s state media, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration, possibly so that officials in Pyongyang could figure out what direction Trump will likely take and what new policies he may pursue.
But his top diplomat’s recent trip to Asia, which featured some pretty tough talk, appears to have loosened their lips.
In North Korea’s first official comments since new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s swing through the region, a Foreign Ministry spokesman seized on his assessment that Obama’s strategy needs to be replaced and US efforts to get North Korea to denuclearise over the past 20 years have been a failure. The spokesman then slammed Trump for adopting the same policies, particularly on tougher economic sanctions, nevertheless.
“Tillerson admitted the failure of the US efforts to denuclearise the DPRK for 20 years and end of Obama’s policy of ‘strategic patience’ during his recent tour,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in the dispatch that ran late Monday, quoting the unnamed Foreign Ministry official.
“Now Tillerson is repeating what Obama touted ... until he left the White House.”
Just before Tillerson arrived in Tokyo, the North launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.