President Donald Trump has praised the “decision” made by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in an early morning tweetstorm on August 16.
Here’s what Trump wrote specifically: “Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision. The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!”
Here’s the actual tweet:
Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision. The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!
Putting aside the unusual spectacle of an American president making statements about a dangerous foreign power on Twitter, what was Trump talking about? What decision? He appears to be talking about the North Korean threat to launch missiles toward Guam. Did North Korea blink in this game of armed chicken?
There had been reports that North Korea was softening its tone after more dramatic rhetoric on both sides, including Trump promising “fire and fury” if the North Koreans attacked Guam.
Kim Jong Un made a new statement that was interpreted as saying he would not launch missiles first. Fox News reported on August 15, “Kim Jong Un appears to back down after Mattis, Trump warnings.”
“Kim Jong Un appeared to blink first, with North Korean media reporting Tuesday the dictator had delayed a decision about whether to fire missiles toward Guam,” Fox reported, adding that Secretary of Defense James Mattis promised North Korean it would be “game on” if North Korea attacked first.
However, the actual Kim statement is a little more complicated.
According to The Independent, Kim Jong Un “said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], the latter will make an important decision as it already declared.” That was perceived as delaying a decision to fire missiles at Guam, according to The Independent.
The statement was perceived as a backing down from a dictator who, Fox noted, had previously circled a date while promising an attack.
News.com.au reported that “Kim praised the North Korean military for creating a ‘close and careful plan’ to launch missiles towards Guam. However he said he would watch the ‘foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees’ before deciding whether to order the test in a move that was seen as leaving the door open to diplomatic efforts.” ABC News reported that experts believe Kim is trying to survive and doesn’t really want nuclear war.
It appears that China is exerting its muscle. Sputnik News, a Russian site, reported that the Chinese Customs Agency said it would participate in sanctions against North Korea, which is almost entirely reliant on China for trade. It also comes after U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis talked tough on North Korea. Sputnik added that “North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said on Sunday that he wanted to create a dialogue with the US bloc.”
CBS News reported shortly before Trump’s tweet that China wants the two countries to “hit the brake” and talk. South Korean protests also erupted urging the same. Trump’s tweet may be a way of doing so without looking like he backed down by saying North Korea backed down first.
“The most important task at hand is for the U.S. and North Korea to ‘hit the brakes’ on their mutual needling of each other with words and actions, to lower the temperature of the tense situation and prevent the emergence of an ‘August crisis,'” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Wi said to Russia in a statement that was released publicly.
CBS News quoted U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as saying that “the Trump administration was interested in opening a dialogue with North Korea, but that it was waiting for a signal of similar interest from Pyongyang.”