Donald Trump Is Legitimizing Kim Jong-Un As He Expands His Military Arsenal, Says Victor Cha
Although Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un appear to have a friendly relationship, The Inquisitr previously reported that North Korea launched two more ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan late last month. The event marked the seventh missile test in less than a month. Trump claimed on Twitter earlier in August that Kim promised he would stop testing after joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, but these exercises ended three days before the recent launch of the two ballistic missiles.
Newsweek reports that Victor Cha, the former director for Asian Affairs in the White House’s National Security Council and current senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that Trump’s strategy with Kim isn’t working. During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Cha said that while Trump’s North Korea strategy might have produced some great PR, it hasn’t led to tangible results. He also claims that Kim is continuing to expand his country’s military capabilities right under Trump’s nose.
“The president deserves credit for really trying something outside the box with North Korea, because we have never done these summits before,” Cha said.
“But we’ve now had three meetings between the leaders, and they’ve achieved absolutely nothing in terms of denuclearization,” he added. “Meanwhile, they’re amassing and expanding and modernizing their capabilities right under the president’s nose.”
Kim Jong Un is expanding his arsenal right under Trump's nose while the president legitimizes human rights abuses: Expert https://t.co/9MvhTsMYxl
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 29, 2019
Later in the interview, Cha criticized Kim’s human rights record, suggesting that he is the “worst human rights violator” in the world and adding that Trump’s cozy relationship with Kim legitimizes North Korea’s human rights abuses.
“Perhaps one could make the argument that it would be worth it if we were making progress in terms of their giving up their weapons, but we have not seen any progress at all,” Cha said, noting that it’s not clear why Trump wants a fourth meeting with Kim given the lack of progress their relationship has achieved.
Per The Inquisitr, Trump previously said that his wife, Melania, had gotten close to Kim. Despite this claim, the White House later confirmed that Melania has never met the North Korean dictator. According to White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, Trump confides in Melania about his relationship with Kim and feels as though “she’s gotten to know him too.”
Per CNN, Trump made the eyebrow-raising comment during a press conference that he held with French President Emmanuel Macron during the G-7 Summit in France. Trump reportedly also made several other incorrect or false claims during the same meeting.
