News broke late Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un—who had just recently made broad overtures toward peace with the United States—was walking back what originally appeared to be unconditional terms. The zany turn would turn him into a hero of the anti-Trump “resistance” by night’s end.
Reportedly upset with joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, the rogue state issued a release saying that denuclearization would not be “one-sided,” essentially stating Jong-un wouldn’t give up his nuclear weapons unless the United States did so as well, according to the Associated Press.
“If the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-U.S. summit,” said first vice minister of foreign affairs Kim Kye Gwan.
North Korea also took issue with Trump’s new national security adviser, John Bolton, who it called “human scum.”
This is not surprising. The North Korean regime has a history of being unpredictable, changing its demands, calling leaders names, and walking back promises. Nothing has inherently changed, save for a posturing press release being issued.
And whether President Donald Trump, who has alternatively lauded and threatened North Korea, figured that something like this could occur or was completely blindsided, is unknown.
But that didn’t stop many from gleefully tweeting that Trump had gotten duped by someone smarter than him.
https://twitter.com/jbouvier/status/996603526116757504
https://twitter.com/MattAsherS/status/996597889332899840
N Korea holds all the cards now and @realDonaldTrump knows it. He's compromised and needs this summit as a distraction. What a great negotiator. Is this maga yet? https://t.co/NiZbcqRs3F
— Team B (@TeamB21919030) May 16, 2018
Kim played this well. Wait for all the boasting as well as announcing the date and location of summit…even the Nobel talk. Then pull the rug out from under Trump. Again, this has all happened before. This will all happen again. https://t.co/E99eOScv7G
— Snarkastic Shenanigans 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇱🇻 (@The_HistOracle) May 16, 2018
Bringing Resistance Twitter particular joy were the calls from the right just weeks ago that Trump—for organizing a summit between North Korea and the U.S.—should be awarded the Nobel Prize.
https://twitter.com/ColtonRMcKinney/status/996701862408654848
https://twitter.com/Ambuehlance/status/996601090970808320
https://twitter.com/CharlieSaidWTF/status/996587457096355841
The proposed summit between North Korea and the United States is still scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
The president has not yet responded to the news on Twitter. However, addressing reporters this morning, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that this was something the administration “expected” to happen.
"This is something that we fully expected," said @PressSec this morning of North Korea threat to scrub summit with Pres Trump. "If they want to meet we’ll be ready and if they don’t, that’s okay too," said Sanders, in a WH driveway gaggle with reporters. pic.twitter.com/xDYXV5dQ2F
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 16, 2018
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