Message to Kim

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in [who is hoping to host North Korean leader Kim Jong Un soon] has said, a day after meeting the US president at an economic summit in Argentina [...], Trump had asked him to pass on a message.

"The message is that President Trump has very favourable views toward Chairman Kim and he likes him," Moon told reporters aboard a flight from Argentina to New Zealand, where he started a three-day state visit on Sunday.

"As such, he asked me to tell Chairman Kim that he wants to implement the rest of their agreement together and he will fulfil Chairman Kim's wishes."

  alJazeera

Why does that sound ominous?

"We're getting along very well. We have a good relationship," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his return from the G20 summit.

Trump added that at some point he will invite Kim to the United States.

[...]

The two leaders signed a vaguely worded document on denuclearisation, but progress has since stalled as Washington and Pyongyang spar over the meaning of the document.

North Korea has taken few concrete steps to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to meet a top North Korean official in early November, but the meeting was abruptly put off, with Pyongyang insisting that Washington ease sanctions.

Make America irrelevant

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, met his South Korean counterpart on Saturday, two days after Donald Trump cancelled a planned summit with Kim.

[...]

Moon is expected to announce further details of the meeting on Sunday morning.

[...]

South Korea, which brokered the talks between Washington and Pyongyang, was caught off guard by Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the summit, in which he cited hostility in recent North Korean comments. Moon said Trump’s decision left him “perplexed” and was “very regrettable”.

[...]

The surprise meeting highlighted Moon’s efforts to get the historic summit back on track, and showed inter-Korea relations are in a far better state than those between Washington and Pyongyang. On Friday, Trump made a partial climbdown, saying the summit could still be held in Singapore on 12 June if conditions are right.

  Guardian

Still acting like it's all his decision. The world turns to Donald Trump's commands.

Looks like Mr. Moon just arrived home

Sounds serious.  And urgent.

Recently enlightened by North Korea, chicken-hearted president cancels summit

Trump has sent a letter cancelling the summit with Kim Jong Un.

The letter comes hours after a statement from Choe Son-hui, North Korea's vice minister of foreign affairs, threatening to cancel the summit and calling Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy." Despite the increase in tensions, North Korea went ahead with the destruction of its nuclear test site overnight.

South Korea initially took the lead on talks with North Korea, and already had a presidential summit with Kim. Seoul has even more to lose from a breakdown in relations than the U.S., and it's unclear whether the Korean dialogue will continue.

  Axios

"But that to us is totally irrelevant."  This comes after North Korea pointed out that the US was saying Korea begged for a meeting when it was the US who asked for the meeting with Kim.

Back to the grandiosity and chest-thumping:  "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.  The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth.  This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history."  

And who's fault is that again?  WHO changed his mind?  Maybe it's the guy who cancelled the summit?

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has told U.S. President Donald Trump he expects talks between the two Koreas to resume after joint Washington–Seoul military exercises conclude this week.

Moon’s comments at the White House Wednesday came just hours before North Korea’s vice foreign minister threatened the U.S. with the prospect of an “appalling tragedy” and a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.”

  Time

Poor President Moon - caught between to big babies with big weapons.

Trump meanwhile, “is applying the kind of tools and instruments and tactics in a local real estate market in NYC,” says [Daniel Pinkston, an East Asia expert at Troy University in South Korea]. But “with an international system there are no courts, there’s no third-party enforcer. It’s way over his head and it’s dangerous.”

So what happens to that coin?

And that Nobel Peace Prize?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

P.S.  He did correct that tweet to say Kim Jong Un, but, as always, he left the original version up as well.

UPDATE:





And then couldn't recall he'd done it.

The most clueless world leader in history

The US president issued the threat at the White House when he was asked about the recent suggestion by his national security adviser, John Bolton, that the “Libyan model” be a template for dealing with North Korea at a summit between Trump and Kim planned for 12 June in Singapore.

The model Bolton was referring to was Gaddafi’s agreement in December 2003 to surrender his embryonic nuclear weapons programme, which included allowing his uranium centrifuges to be shipped out to the US.

But Trump appeared to be unaware of that agreement, and interpreted the “Libyan model” to mean the 2011 Nato intervention in Libya in support of an insurrection, which ultimately led to Gaddafi’s murder at the hands of rebels in Tripoli.

“The model, if you look at that model with Gaddafi, that was a total decimation. We went in there to beat him. Now that model would take place if we don’t make a deal, most likely. But if we make a deal, I think Kim Jong-un is going to be very, very happy,” Trump said, suggesting that the regime’s survival could be assured if Kim agreed to disarm.

  The Guardian

Not only does he not know about the Libyan nuclear weapons dealing, he thinks that his bluster and threats - not Moon Jae-in's overtures - are what brought Kim to the point of a meeting to negotiate, so now that Kim has objections to US demands (and to Bolton), he's going to go back to that stance.

Asked whether his comments meant that he disagreed with his national security adviser, the third of his administration, the president said: “I think when John Bolton made that statement, he was talking about if we are going to be having a problem, because we cannot let that country have nukes. We just can’t do it.”

Well, they do have them. 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Meanwhile in the Koreas

South Korea has just elected a liberal president who favors rebuilding tattered relations with neighboring North Korea, which could signal a policy shift and mute heightened saber-rattling on the peninsula.

On the campaign trail Moon Jae-in [a former human rights attorney] promised to offer a more active diplomatic approach to North Korea centered around more open dialogue with Pyongyang.

[...]

Moon also campaigned on a National Interest First policy and wrote in a book, published in January, that South Korea should learn to say “no to America.”

  RT