Posted on : Dec.9,2019 17:00 KST
Modified on : Dec.9,2019 17:12 KST
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US President Donald Trump’s Dec. 8 tweet warning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of the consequences of breaking denuclearization agreements.
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US president reacts to Pyongyang’s “important test” at Tongchang Village
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US President Donald Trump’s Dec. 8 tweet warning North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of the consequences of breaking denuclearization agreements.
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US President Donald Trump warned on Dec. 8 that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will “lose everything” if he behaves in a hostile way. While Trump had told reporters the day before that he would be “surprised” to see Kim behaving antagonistically, North Korea’s subsequent announcement that it had carried out a “very important test” at its Tongchang Village missile launch site prompted the US president to ratchet up the level of his warning. With the end of the year fast approaching -- and with it the deadline that North Korea set for the US to come up with a “new method of calculation” -- tensions are mounting as both sides step up the pressure on each other.
In a Twitter message on Dec. 8, Trump wrote, “Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way.”
“He signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement with me in Singapore [in June 2018],” he continued. “He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November [2020].”
Trump also stressed, “North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised.”
“NATO, China, Russia, Japan, and the entire world is unified on this issue!” he added.
Trump’s tweet came in the wake of North Korea’s announcement the day before that a “very important test took place at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground [Tongchang Village] on the afternoon of December 7, 2019.” Experts speculated that the test by North Korea may have involved solid propellant or engine testing for a satellite or ICBM.
Trump’s stern warning that Kim could “lose everything” if it acts in a hostile way appeared to be based on the prediction that provocative actions by North Korea could have a negative impact on his own re-election chances. It sends the clear message that his “good relationship” with Kim will come to an end if North Korea launches a long-range projectile that threatens the US. Trump also stated that China and Russia agreed on North Korea’s need to denuclearize, reaffirming his previous position that the North needs to denuclearize first while warning it against choosing a “new path.”
Meeting with reporters at the White House while preparing to leave for Florida the day before, Trump was asked about his plans for getting North Korea involved in negotiations again.
“I’d be surprised if North Korea acted hostilely,” he replied.
“I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. I think we both want to keep it that way,” he continued.
“He knows I have an election coming up. I don’t think he wants to interfere with that. But we’ll have to see,” he also said.
Trump went on that say that Kim “is somebody that I’ve gotten along with very well for three years, and he’s gotten along with me very well.”
“So we’ll see how it goes,” he added.
“But I really don’t think he wants to interfere with the election,” he said.
Yet in his tweet the following day, Trump made no reference to his “good relationship” with Kim.
N. Korea’s series of warning statements
A few hours before Trump’s tweet, Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, declared that denuclearization was off the negotiating table. In a statement that day, Kim said the Trump administration had been “pursu[ing] the hostile policy towards the DPRK with the aim of stifling [it].”
“The alleged ‘sustained and substantial dialogue’ claimed by the United States is merely a time-saving trick to make an expedient use of the DPRK-US dialogue only for its domestic political agenda.,” he insisted.
“We do not need to have lengthy talks with the US now and the denuclearization is already gone out from the negotiating table,” he said.
In another statement on Nov. 19, Kim Yong-chol, the chairman of North Korea’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, said the US “should not dream” of negotiating denuclearization “before dropping its hostile policy.” The following day, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui told reporters, “I think that discussions with regard to the nuclear issue may have been dropped from the future negotiating table.” In a statement on Dec. 3, Ri Thae-song, vice foreign minister for US affairs, said, “What is left to be done now is the US option and it is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.”
By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
