{"id":215930,"date":"2019-05-26T04:35:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T08:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=215930"},"modified":"2019-05-26T04:35:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T08:35:43","slug":"trump-defends-kim-downplays-missile-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/26\/trump-defends-kim-downplays-missile-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump defends Kim, downplays missile threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Trump also said North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s criticism of one of his Democratic rivals, former Vice-President Joe Biden, had made him smile. (File Photo<\/a>: Donald J. Trump\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO \u2014 In an apparent contradiction of his national security adviser, President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed recent North Korean missile tests, tweeting from Tokyo that they’re not a concern for him in comments sure to unnerve Japanese leaders.<\/p>\n

Trump also said North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s criticism of one of his Democratic rivals, former Vice-President Joe Biden, had made him smile.<\/p>\n

The remarks were the latest example of Trump’s willingness to publicly undermine senior advisers, flout democratic norms and side with totalitarian leaders, even on the world stage. He did so this time during a four-day state visit to Japan where he’ll become the first leader to meet with the country’s new emperor.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,\u201d Trump tweeted in one of a flurry of early morning messages that suggested he’d spent little time sleeping after the lengthy flight to Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome\u201d of his \u201cpeople\u201d appear to include national security adviser John Bolton, who told reporters at a briefing Saturday ahead of Trump’s arrival that a series of short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month were a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, there is no doubt about that,\u201d said Bolton, responding to the May 4 and 9 tests that ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017. Trump ignored a shouted question Sunday about whether he agreed with Bolton’s assessment.<\/p>\n

Trump and other administration officials have sought to downplay the significance of the tests, insisting they do not violate an agreement Trump reached with Kim for a moratorium on launches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moratorium was focused, very focused, on intercontinental missile systems, the ones that threaten the United States,\u201d Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a recent television interview. That raised alarm bells in Japan, where short-range missiles pose a serious threat because of the country’s proximity to North Korea.<\/p>\n

Unlike several other leaders in the region, Abe has yet to meet with Kim, leaving Japan to rely on the U.S. as an intermediary and advocate with North Korea. Abe recently offered to meet Kim without preconditions in an effort to restore diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n

Trump in his tweet said he had \u201cconfidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me,\u201d while at the same time embracing Kim’s recent attacks on Biden, whose name he misspelled<\/p>\n

Trump said he \u201csmiled\u201d when Kim \u201ccalled Swampman Joe Bidan a low IQ individual, & worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps that’s sending me a signal?\u201d Trump asked.<\/p>\n

Trump later offered a new tweet with the correct \u201cBiden\u201d spelling.<\/p>\n

North Korea this week labeled Biden a \u201cfool of low IQ\u201d and an \u201cimbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being\u201d after the U.S. presidential hopeful accused Trump of cozying up to \u201cdictators and tyrants\u201d like Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin during his campaign launch speech.<\/p>\n

Biden’s campaign would not comment on the record Sunday, but a spokesman for his campaign, Andrew Bates said Wednesday that, \u201cGiven Vice-President Biden’s record of standing up for American values and interests, it’s no surprise that North Korea would prefer that Donald Trump remain in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tweet came early Sunday before Trump left his hotel for a round of golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He’ll also be attending a sumo wrestling match and handing out a \u201cPresident’s Cup\u201d to the winner as part of a visit meant to showcase the close ties between the nations.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2014 In an apparent contradiction of his national security adviser, President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed recent North Korean …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":203653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-jill-colvin","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215931,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215930\/revisions\/215931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}