Trump touts ties with N. Korea leader Kim and signals interest in dialogue

SEOUL - Former US president Donald Trump said on July 18 in his Republican National Convention speech to

accept the conservative party’s nomination

as its presidential candidate that he “got along with” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

His remarks came as he touted himself as the right person to stop the wars and deal with the geopolitical complexities involving Russia and North Korea, given his experience holding in-person meetings with both Mr Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“I got along very well (with) North Korea’s Kim Jong Un,” Trump said. “It is nice to get along with someone that has a lot of nuclear weapons or otherwise. He’d like to see me back too. I think he misses me.”

Trump also claimed that he could stop the missile launches of North Korea.

“And we stopped the missile launches from North Korea. North Korea’s acting up again but when we get back, I get along with him,” Trump said.

He also assured the audience that he is capable of putting an end to international crises “with a telephone call”.

“I will end every single international crisis that the current administration has created, including the horrible war with Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said. “War is now raging in Europe, in the Middle East, a growing specter of conflict hangs over Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines and all of Asia.”

“Under President Bush, Russia invaded Georgia. Under President Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under the current administration, Russia is after all of Ukraine. Under President Trump, Russia took nothing,” he said.

But significant doubts persist as to whether Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine would be in favour of Kyiv and include Ukraine’s recovery of territory it lost during the two years of war with Russia, as well as to whether Trump would stick to denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula before meeting Mr Kim.

In this vein, Ms Na Kyung-won of the ruling People Power Party in South Korea, who is vying for the position of party chair, said her party would push ahead with proposing a National Assembly Bill to arm South Korea with nuclear weapons.

“Should Trump return to the White House, the United States and North Korea might restart preparations for the next summit (between Trump and Kim), and the agenda for the talks could be North Korea’s freezing of its nuclear programme, instead of complete denuclearisation,” Ms Na said in a forum at the National Assembly on July 5.

Trump’s return might bode particularly ill for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s foreign policy stance, which he has maintained for the past two years of his presidency, in line with that of incumbent US President Joe Biden.

Sogang University political science professor Ha Shang-eung said a Trump victory in the US presidential election in November might require Seoul to rethink its publicly-announced foreign policy completely, including its handling of North Korea. Seoul might no longer be able to push for the denuclearisation of North Korea, depending on Trump’s actions, he said.

“(Seoul also) must ask itself whether it should continue providing aid to Ukraine, and whether it can continue doing so if Trump decides not to support Ukraine,” Professor Ha said.

But Dr Seo Jung-kun, political science professor at Kyung Hee University, said it is premature for Seoul to gauge the repercussions of Trump’s remarks at his nomination acceptance speech, given Trump often says things simply because he enjoys the spotlight.

“Trump does not tend to take either comprehensive or systemic approaches in shaping his foreign policy,” Dr Seo said, adding that, by bringing up his past engagement with Mr Putin and Mr Kim, Trump “just tried to convince people that he is confident that he can handle strongman-style leaders in the world”. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK