President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are not known for being friends. But the two leaders will meet on June 12 in Singapore to…
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are not known for being friends.
But the two leaders will meet on June 12 in Singapore to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
In the last year, the two went from threatening nuclear war that would wipe each other “completely off the map,” to agreeing to talk about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
How did we get from “fire and fury” to potential friends? Here’s a look at the evolving dynamic between Trump and Kim.
Less than a month after Trump’s January inauguration, North Korea begins a round of three missile tests between February 11 and March 21. Trump tweets his impatience over the national security threat. After the second missile launch on March 5 and right before its third, Trump pulls China into the mix.
Never mind about blaming China. Trump rolls back his previous comments and says: “North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today.” Trump tries to poke at Kim Jong Un’s sensitivity — the success of his nuclear program — by saying the test failed.
North Korea goes on to complete another series of new missile tests in April and May, heightening international fear over a potential nuclear war and how the U. S. would respond to Kim.
The insults pick up speed with a new string of missile tests, seven in total between June 8 and Sept. 27,2017. In early July, Trump transitions from hurling his comments at North Korea to targeting Kim: “North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”
But the cuts get deeper. During a statement to the press on Aug. 8, Trump threatens North Korea with intense retaliation when he says, “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Trump also blasts Kim on Twitter, rolling out two insults into one tweet. Trump calls Kim “Rocket Man,” and references the results of painful oil and fuel sanctions against the North.
A round of additional sanctions on North Korea were approved by the U. N Security Council for the fall, including limiting 90% of petroleum exports to North Korea.
In a Sept. 22 tweet, Trump tosses another nickname into the universe, calling Kim a “madman” and keeps up the theme of cryptic threats: “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!”
Assumed to be enjoying the antagonistic game of provoking Trump’s fury, Kim begins his own round of name-calling .
“Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,” Kim said in response to Trump’s messages. “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U. S. dotard with fire.”
What’s a ‘dotard?’ Merriam-Webster defines it as “a person in a state or period of senile decay.”
Trump continues his social media tirade against the North Korean leader in a below-the-belt tweet on Nov. 11, when the U. S. president was in Vietnam on his Asia tour. “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?'” Trump tweeted.
Equanimity was likely not on the two presidents’ New Year’s resolution list, as 2018 rang in a renewed battle, this time about buttons. During his first speech of 2018, Kim said, “The United States should know that the button for nuclear weapons is on my table.” To which Trump immediately snapped back that the button on his desk is even bigger. “My Button works,” Trump tweeted.
Right when the relationship seemed past the point of no return, a potential peace crept in. After North and South Korea joined hands during the Winter Olympics in Pyongyang, suddenly Kim was open to talking about denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
During peace talks between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim in late April, the two countries initiated small steps toward shutting down the North’s nuclear weapons program.
Trump is credited for his hand in pushing for a negotiation that would lead to denuclearization.
Kim has denied that the strangling economic sanctions had anything to do with his decision to come to the peace table. The North and South both announced a mutual desire to build a better future best completed as a unified peninsula.
Although Trump intends to maintain the tightened sanctions over North Korea until he and Kim can discuss a peace strategy, Trump said he is positive about his upcoming meeting with the leader.
On Wednesday, North Korea offered its latest diplomatic gesture by releasing 3 Americans held by the communist country .
But let’s be cautiously optimistic. Previous attempts to quell frosty relations between the United States and North Korea have only led to deeper conflict.
