North Korea’s military aid to Russia is unsettling not only South Korea, but increasingly China as well. Kim Jong-un, who no longer wants to meet US President Donald Trump, benefits from this.
Donald Trump is convinced that Kim Jong-un misses him. After all, he met the North Korean dictator three times during his first term in office. These dates failed – Kim then expanded his nuclear arsenal. But Trump has fond memories of his Korean “friend”. Now he wants to try again as US President, according to his entourage.
“There’s nothing wrong with getting along well,” he recalled in the summer about his past meetings with Kim: “I told him back then: ‘Do something different. Stop buying and building nuclear weapons all the time, you’ve had enough of them. Relax yourself. You know what, I’ll show you how to play baseball. We’re watching the Yankees.’”
There is unlikely to be a Yankee game together. At least from today’s perspective, a renaissance of “bromance” has little chance. Already in the summer, Kim demonstratively gave his ex-pen pal Trump the cold shoulder: His country had already explored all avenues for dialogue with the USA. “But the US has maintained its hostile, aggressive stance. And we don’t care who sits in the White House.” Because it is now clear to the Kim regime: Pyongyang will not give up its nuclear program. And above all, it is not willing to negotiate about it.
