President Donald Trump on May 26 said he’s not disturbed by recent missile launches by North Korea and is confident that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would keep his promises.
The president made the comments during his state visit to Japan, a key ally in the effort to denuclearize North Korea.
Last year in Singapore, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a leader of North Korea’s communist regime. At the summit, North Korea agreed to peaceful relations with the United States and South Korea, committed to completely denuclearize, and promised to repatriate the remains of U.S. troops.
In February, Trump cut short a second summit with Kim in Vietnam after the two leaders couldn’t agree on the terms of a deal.
Trump is expected to discuss concerns about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his stay in Tokyo.
In his Twitter message, Trump took pleasure with Kim disparaging Joe Biden, a contender in the Democratic primary for the 2020 election. The president wrote that he smiled when Kim “called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?”
Trump regularly uses nicknames to tag his adversaries. Swampman is a new nickname for Biden, who Trump previously referred to as “sleepy Joe” or “SleepyCreepy Joe.” Trump has called Kim “Little Rocket Man.”
National security adviser John Bolton said on May 25 that North Korea’s recent missile launches violated a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Earlier this month, Kim oversaw the first flight of a previously untested weapon: a relatively small, fast missile that experts believe will be easier to hide, launch, and maneuver in flight.
The United States is seeking the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. To achieve this goal, Trump imposed crippling sanctions on the communist regime. Trump and other U.S. officials have also suggested that North Korea will have a prosperous future once it gets rid of nuclear weapons.
Prior to the recent launches, Pyongyang hadn’t tested any missiles since the first Trump-Kim summit. Pyongyang also hasn’t carried out any more nuclear weapons tests.
North Korea was engaging in a scheme to export coal to foreign buyers by concealing the origin of the ship, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said at the time, adding that it allowed the country to evade sanctions. It was the first time the United States seized a North Korean vessel for violating sanctions.
On the morning of May 9, South Korean officials said missiles were fired from Kusong, located in the northwestern part of North Korea. They traveled about 260 miles toward the east, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
