The U.S President Donald Trump has said he is calm after North Korea’s recent short-range missile tests. Trump was putting him publicly at odds with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is hosting the U.S president on a state visit. On Monday, both leaders disagreed on the issue during a joint press conference designed to showcase U.S-Japan relations in Tokyo. Abe was standing alongside Trump following hours of talks. He said Pyongyang’s missile tests earlier this month violated UN Security Council resolutions and were of great regret. He stressed that the missiles posed a security threat to Japan, which neighbors North Korea. But Trump said: “My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently”.
Trump suggested, “The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un is a smart man who perhaps wants to get attention”. He added, “Who knows? It doesn’t matter”. He replied when asked if he was bothered by missile tests, “I’m not. I personally am not”. Trump sought to downplay the significance of the missile tests, in spite of his own national security adviser, John Bolton said during last week that there was no doubt they had violated UN resolutions.
On Monday, North Korea’s foreign ministry lashed out at Bolton, whom a Pyongyang spokesperson described as more than ignorant and a structurally defective guy. North Korean state media quoted the spokesperson as saying, “Our military drill neither targeted anyone nor endangered the surrounding countries. But, Bolton makes dogged claims that it constitutes a violation of the ‘resolutions’, impudently poking his nose into other’s internal matters”.
The U.S president said during Monday’s press conference, “All I know is there have been no nuclear tests, no ballistic missiles going out, no long-range missiles going out, and I think that someday we’ll have a deal”. He added he was in no rush. The leaders largely glossed over their differences on trade, despite the potentially crippling tariffs on foreign cars. It is noteworthy that Trump is threatening to impose on Japan and the European Union. Trump said he backed his Japanese counterpart’s interest in leveraging his country’s good relations with Iran to help broker dialogue between the US and its Middle Eastern adversary.