President Donald Trump offered a remarkably specific assessment of North Korea&#8217;s secretive nuclear arsenal on Wednesday, saying dictator Kim Jong Un has 57 nuclear weapons as he confirmed plans for another meeting with the North Korean leader.
Trump made the comments during an impromptu meeting with reporters while touring a new White House helipad, where he was asked whether the two leaders would meet again.
The reporter began by asking whether or not Trump had been exchanging letters with Kim, and while the president refused to answer that question, he asserted that it was a good thing to have a working relationship with a leader who has nuclear weapons.
&#8220;I can’t tell you that,” Trump said of any possible correspondence. &#8220;But I get along with him. And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.&#8221;
&#8220;He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. They should have never allowed it to happen. They should&#8217;ve never allowed it,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;If I were president [then] I wouldn&#8217;t have allowed it, but he&#8217;s got them.&#8221;
The figure was notably more precise than American officials typically offer, though it aligns with widely reported outside estimates. It remains unclear how Trump arrived at the number.
Trump said again that he got along well with Kim — and that he knew the North Korean leader &#8220;very well.&#8221;
&#8220;He&#8217;s going to be fine as long as we have a smart president,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;He&#8217;s going to be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he&#8217;s probably not going to be so fine.&#8221;
The reporter then pressed him further, asking whether he planned to meet with Kim before the end of the year.
&#8220;Yeah, I will be,&#8221; Trump replied before turning and walking away.
A <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/trump-pushes-for-kim-jong-un-meeting-this-year-2a9f9ae0?eafs_enabled=false">report</a> published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal indicated that Trump has been pushing for a meeting with the North Korean leader, possibly in November, in conjunction with an already-planned trip to Asia. The report suggested that Trump&#8217;s goal was to encourage the dictator to abandon his country&#8217;s nuclear weapons program altogether.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Gives Surprisingly Specific Number For Kim Jong Un’s Nuclear Arsenal

Trump Reveals How Many Nuclear Weapons Kim Jong Un Has

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Kim Jong Un

North Korea

Nuclear Weapons

Politics

President Donald Trump made history during his first term by meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in two summits and a brief third encounter. The United States and North Korea turned the dangerous escalation of 2017 into summit diplomacy in 2018. But after a promising first meeting in Singapore in June 2018, the two leaders left Hanoi in early 2019 without an agreement, and their brief encounter at the Demilitarized Zone later that year failed to revive the process. Relations have deteriorated ever since.
Kim has used the intervening years to strengthen his nuclear and missile programs, entrench North Korea as a permanent nuclear-weapon state, rejuvenate his alliance with Russia, and ensure that Xi Jinping remains invested in preserving Beijing’s influence on the Korean Peninsula. Despite South Korea’s sharp political shift from Yoon Suk-yeol to Lee Jae-myung, and President Lee’s recent calls for renewed inter-Korean dialogue, Kim remains resolutely uninterested in serious engagement.
President Trump frequently emphasizes his good personal relationship with Kim, and few would question his confidence in dealing directly with strong leaders or pursuing unconventional diplomacy. But personal rapport with North Korea’s dictator does little to alter Kim’s strategic calculations. Those calculations center on strengthening Pyongyang’s nuclear posture, securing a survivable second-strike capability, deterring a preemptive attack, and exploiting growing military capabilities for coercive leverage.
Against that backdrop, the decision to pull U.S. troops out of one of the two major annual U.S.–South Korean military exercises erodes deterrence and represents an unnecessary retreat from “peace through strength.” Dialogue is worthwhile, but the United States should negotiate from strength. We should not expect Kim to reward weakness.
More troubling, President Trump’s social-media commentary suggests that Washington is penalizing South Korea in part because of Seoul’s reluctance to be drawn into a conflict with Iran, a conflict on which South Korea was hardly consulted. Nor did Seoul have a say as the United States depleted stocks of standoff weapons and missile interceptors to levels that raise questions about the administration’s own strategy of deterrence by denial along the first island chain.
Washington may disagree with some of President Lee’s policies, but it should not fault his government for failing to contribute to the alliance. South Korea carries a substantial defense burden and possesses industrial capabilities increasingly vital to American security. Few major U.S. allies devote a larger share of their economy to defense, and South Korea is indispensable to revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base, particularly in shipbuilding, while remaining a critical partner in technologies such as semiconductors.
President Trump’s social-media commentary and apparently hasty decision on military exercises could nonetheless have some unintended benefits. First, they may test whether Kim will finally respond to the Trump administration’s repeated back-channel overtures, perhaps setting the stage for another encounter when Trump travels to Asia later this year. Second, scaling back the exercise aligns with the Lee administration’s own emphasis on reopening dialogue with North Korea. Third, Kim’s strengthened ties with Russia and renewed support from China may leave him feeling secure enough to meet the American president again.
But expectations should remain modest. Serious arms control is unlikely. At best, another encounter might produce a rhetorical commitment to peace or vague language on nuclear weapons that future governments could readily disown. Such diplomacy should therefore remain secondary to the more urgent task of rebuilding American economic and military strength.
The administration should concentrate on executing its broad trade and investment agreement with South Korea, including Seoul’s pledged $150 billion investment in shipbuilding and $200 billion in other sectors. That is real money directed toward concrete American and South Korean interests.
By contrast, another round of photo opportunities with Kim, whose export of KN-23 and KN-24 missiles and deployment of troops have helped sustain Russia’s war against Ukraine, is of secondary strategic importance. Washington should focus more, not less, on rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base, replenishing depleted munitions, accelerating military modernization, and fielding new systems at scale.
President Trump is too quick to use social media to make and signal consequential strategic decisions. The task now is to ensure that his next steps advance U.S. interests rather than undermine them. That means keeping the door open to diplomacy with Kim Jong Un while negotiating from strength. Above all, it means strengthening strategic alignment with South Korea and America’s other key Asian allies.
***
Patrick M. Cronin is the Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute.

TOPSHOT-SKOREA-US-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY

Don’t Punish Seoul To Appease Pyongyang

DW Opinion

Foreign Policy

Lee Jae-myung

President Donald Trump

South Korea

Xi Jinping

Confusing adversaries and allies is a basic foreign policy mistake. Leveraging enemies to attack friends is a deeper failure. President Trump committed both errors on Sunday when he announced that he was ordering the Pentagon to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises” with South Korea. According to his post on social media, the president’s justifications were his “very good relationship” with Pyongyang’s dictator Kim Jong-un, and Seoul’s failure to help Washington in its war with Tehran.
Trump’s explanation contradicts his dismissal of Seoul five months ago: “WE NEVER DID” need South Korea’s help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Nor did America, in Trump’s telling, need anyone’s help. Now, months later, the president is revisiting a gambit he played in his first term: scaling down joint exercises with Seoul, apparently as an olive branch to Kim.
Trump may have legitimate reasons to be frustrated with South Korea. The liberal party in Seoul has an established track record of engagement with China, and has actively sought to weaken American sanctions on North Korea in years past. We should expect allies to act as allies.
It is equally true that America’s partners should expect the global hegemony to act predictably in its own interests. Regardless of Seoul’s behavior, Washington benefits when Pyongyang is hemmed in and deterred from adventurism and belligerence. More broadly, America’s interests demand that North Korea never unify the peninsula. For these reasons alone, military exercises with South Korea should persist.
Trump’s idiosyncratic view of international relations risks unwittingly empowering America’s enemies. To be sure, Kim is delighted by any indication of American weakness, and will move to exploit any daylight between Washington and Seoul. Of greater import is how Pyongyang’s northern neighbor views this move.
Xi Jinping has had ample opportunity to take the measure of Donald Trump. His first interaction with the president in 2017 consisted of Trump temporarily leaving the dining hall in Mar-a-Lago to order a strike on Syria. Trump’s choreographed bravado signaled strength and resolve to Xi, as did the president’s successful operation against Nicholas Maduro in his second term.
But Xi has also witnessed Trump’s fundamental rejection of traditional categories for America’s friends and enemies. Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelensky of starting the war with Russia. He heard Trump scold Taiwan earlier this year as he left Beijing, insisting that Taipei lower the temperature with China. He also took note of Trump’s delay of arms sales to Taiwan. And, of course, the whole world witnessed Trump’s repeated attempts last year to downgrade America’s alliance with South Korea.
Confusing allies and adversaries risks misallocating trust and threats, like a chef mistaking sugar for salt. Trump needs to maintain deterrence in East Asia. Two wars are already raging in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In response to the latter, the Pentagon recently redeployed the USS George Washington from the Indo-Pacific to the Persian Gulf to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln. No carriers are now in or near East Asia. Compounding this capability shortfall is the drawdown of Tomahawk missiles and other standoff platforms the Pentagon would need in a China scenario. Trump is coupling a numbers problem with a judgment problem.
These intersecting trends present Xi, and any other anti-American despot, with an easy response: follow Kim’s lead. Convince Trump that you’re “unthreatening and respectful,” and reap the windfall of unilateral concessions from America. As a bonus, the administration in Washington may blame America’s allies for being “hostile.” Trump already fell into these patterns with Taiwan earlier this summer. Xi will likely seek to pull the president further down this road.
To a point, the president’s frustrations with allies are understandable. More than any of his predecessors, Trump has called on America’s partners to do their part and contribute to their own security. For that, he deserves great credit. But nixing readiness exercises on the Korean Peninsula, with nuclear table stakes, smacks of poor judgment and misplaced optimism in the president’s own ability to untangle intractable challenges that go back to 1950. Ignoring the historical roots of the present is a quick ticket to catastrophe. The challenge of North Korea isn’t the lack of dealmaking presidents or petulant partners in Seoul, but Pyongyang’s Communist ideology, Washington’s failure to prevent its nuclearization, and haphazard policies that have oscillated from confrontation to conciliation.
Trump is unknowingly playing into that perverse pattern. By doing so, he is projecting weakness to Kim Jong-un’s northern neighbor and East Asia’s most powerful dictator. Canceling military exercises with South Korea is likely unfinished business from Trump’s first term. The day may come when the president sees the wisdom of his former advisors who counseled against doing so.
***
Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

U.S. President Trump Participates In Honor Presentation During Trip To South Korea

Trump’s Break With South Korea Projects Weakness In The Pacific

Communist China

President Donald Trump said Monday that he would consider extending his Asia trip to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, Trump said that he would “love” to meet with Kim. Trump is currently in Japan and is set to end his Asia trip with a visit to South Korea. Trump first floated the possibility of meeting with Kim before departing on Friday for a five-day trip to Asia that has focused on trade. 
“I haven’t mentioned it. I haven’t said anything, but I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet. I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him. He liked me. If he wants to meet, I’ll be in South Korea,” Trump said when asked if he had any plans to meet with Kim. 
If they did have a meeting, Trump suggested they would discuss sanctions. 
“Well, we have sanctions. It’s pretty big. I would say that&#8217;s about as big as you get,” Trump said. “I just had a good relationship with him. I would love to see him if he wants to, if he even gets this message. We haven&#8217;t mentioned that, but he knows I&#8217;m going over there. If he&#8217;d like to meet, I&#8217;d love to meet him.”
In September, Kim <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/27/trump-asia-trip/">reportedly</a> said that he would meet with Trump if “the U.S. drops its hollow obsession with denuclearization.”
During his first term, Trump became the first president to cross into North Korea’s demilitarized zone and meet with Kim to discuss the communist country&#8217;s nuclear program. He met with Kim on two other occasions. 
Last month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-accuses-china-of-plotting-against-us-as-xi-flexes-military-power-alongside-putin?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Accuses+China+Of+Plotting+Against+US+As+Xi+Flexes+Military+Power+Alongside+Putin">accused</a> North Korea of conspiring with Russia and China against the United States after Kim attended a massive Chinese military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 
“May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
While in South Korea, American officials will finalize the details of a trade agreement. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the overall framework of a deal with South Korea was in place and that the final details were being worked out. 
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the talks were focusing on removing non-tariff barriers to trade imposed by South Korea. South Korea is also expected to invest heavily in American shipbuilding. 
“We&#8217;re very much involved in getting the shipbuilding going again, which really we should have never lost years ago,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We were number one.&#8221;

VIETNAM-US-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-SUMMIT

Trump: ‘I’d Love’ Another Sit-Down With North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

Executive

Nuclear

trade

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that China was conspiring with North Korea and Russia as it conducted a massive military parade. 
China’s military parade, to celebrate Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115137717177283585">post</a>, Trump said the three were working to “conspire” against the United States and pondered whether China would recognize America’s World War II contributions. 
“The big question to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that The United States of America gave to China in order to help it to secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader,” Trump wrote. “Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”
During the parade, China <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-military-parade-world-war-xi-jinping-ed1f7b3e245882dd91b597df24eafbea">showcased</a> a wide array of military equipment and capabilities, including an underwater drone, hypersonic missiles, an intercontinental ballistic missile, and fighter jets. 
“The Chinese people are a people that are not afraid of violence and are self-reliant and strong,” Chinese President Xi Jinping <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-military-parade-world-war-xi-jinping-ed1f7b3e245882dd91b597df24eafbea">said</a>, according to the Associated Press. “The Chinese people’s rejuvenation cannot be blocked, and the noble goal of the peaceful development of human civilization must triumph.”
Russia pushed back on Trump’s conspiracy allegations. 
“Let’s hope that it was meant in some figurative sense,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/03/us/trump-news/ca4818c8-0044-558f-aa96-b2e849102cc4?smid=url-share">said</a> Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. “No one is plotting any conspiracies — no one has the desire or the time for this.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6aGNqrwmHY">said</a> that he didn’t think the military parade was a “challenge” to the United States. 
“China needs us and I have a very good relationship with President Xi as you know. But China needs us much more than we need them,” Trump said. “I had, actually, a very good meeting with President Putin a couple of weeks ago. We’ll see if anything comes of it. If it doesn’t, we’ll take a different stance.”
The Trump administration is currently working to negotiate a trade deal with China after months of back-and-forth tariffs. Last month, Trump signed a 90-day pause on higher tariffs on China as the two sides continue to work out a deal.

CHINA-DEFENCE-ANNIVERSARY-WWII-PARADE

Trump Accuses China Of Plotting Against US As Xi Flexes Military Power Alongside Putin

China

Russia

Vladimir Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he wanted to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year and that he was open to further trade talks with South Korea even as he lobbed new criticisms at the visiting Asian ally.
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to meet him this year,&#8221; Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he welcomed South Korea&#8217;s new president, Lee Jae Myung, to the White House. &#8220;I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future.&#8221;
Despite clinching a trade deal in July that spared South Korean exports harsher U.S. tariffs, the two sides continue to wrangle over nuclear energy, military spending, and details of a deal that included $350 billion in promised South Korean investments in the United States.
After meeting with Trump, Lee attended a business forum with senior U.S. administration officials and CEOs of South Korean companies and more than 20 U.S. firms, including the Carlyle Group, Nvidia, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Honeywell, and General Motors.
Sources told Reuters South Korea&#8217;s flag carrier, Korean Air, was expected to announce an order for about 100 Boeing aircraft.
North Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump&#8217;s remarks.
Since Trump&#8217;s January inauguration, Kim has ignored Trump&#8217;s repeated calls to revive the direct diplomacy he pursued during his 2017-2021 term in office, which produced no deal to halt North Korea&#8217;s nuclear program.
North Korea&#8217;s rhetoric has ramped up, with Kim pledging to speed his nuclear program and condemning joint U.S.-South Korea military drills. Over the weekend, Kim supervised the test firing of new air defense systems.
In the Oval Office, Lee avoided the theatrical confrontations that dominated a February visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a May visit from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Lee, deploying a well-worn strategy by Trump&#8217;s foreign visitors, talked golf and lavished praise on the Republican president&#8217;s interior decorating and peacemaking. He told reporters earlier that he had read the president&#8217;s 1987 memoir, &#8220;Trump: The Art of the Deal,&#8221; to prepare.
The liberal South Korean encouraged Trump to engage with North Korea.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
&#8220;I hope you can bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world, so that you can meet with Kim Jong Un, build a Trump World (real-estate complex) in North Korea so that I can play golf there, and so that you can truly play a role as a world-historical peacemaker,&#8221; Lee said, speaking in Korean.
South Korea&#8217;s economy relies heavily on the U.S., with Washington underwriting its security with troops and nuclear deterrence. Trump has called Seoul a &#8220;money machine&#8221; that takes advantage of American military protection.
Trump has been pressing Seoul on the trade deal they already reached and on issues related to the bilateral military alliance.
After meeting with Lee, Trump told reporters: &#8220;I think we have a deal done&#8221; on trade. &#8220;They had some problems with it, but we stuck to our guns &#8230; They&#8217;re gonna make the deal that they agreed to make.&#8221; He did not elaborate, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said while sitting with Lee he would raise &#8220;intel&#8221; he had received about South Korean investigations he said targeted churches and a military base. The White House did not respond to a request for more information.
This month, Seoul police raided Sarang Jeil Church, headed by evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon, who led protests backing Lee&#8217;s ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol.
In July, prosecutors investigating Yoon&#8217;s attempt to declare martial law served a search warrant on the Korean part of a military base jointly operated with the United States. South Korean officials have said U.S. troops and materials were not subject to the search.
South Korea&#8217;s far-right movement, especially evangelical Christians and Yoon supporters, sees him as a victim of communist persecution.
Trump was expected to pressure Lee to commit to more defense spending, including toward upkeep of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.
Asked if he would reduce those numbers to give the U.S. more regional flexibility, Trump said: &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to say that now,&#8221; but that maybe Seoul should give the U.S. ownership of the &#8220;land where we have the big fort,&#8221; an apparent reference to Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army garrison in South Korea.
Before the meeting, Lee told reporters it would be difficult for Seoul to accept U.S. demands to adopt such &#8220;flexibility&#8221; &#8211; a reference to using U.S. forces for a wider range of operations, including China-related threats.
Lee wants to chart a balanced path of cooperation with the U.S., while avoiding antagonizing China, Seoul&#8217;s top trade partner. Even as he headed to Washington, he sent a special delegation to Beijing, which delivered a message calling for normalized ties.
Lee will highlight some of South Korea&#8217;s expected U.S. investments when he visits a shipyard in Philadelphia owned by the country&#8217;s Hanwha Group on Tuesday.
Trump is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea on October 30-November 1.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Idrees Ali, Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt and David Shepardson in Washington and Josh Smith, Hyun Joo Jin, Ju-min Park and Jack Kim in Seoul; Writing by Josh Smith and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ed Davies, Michael Perry, Rod Nickel)

Kim Jong Un North Korea

Trump Wants To Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

World

North Korea announced Wednesday that it would open a new beach resort on July 1, part of Kim Jong Un’s effort to revive the country’s suffering economy with tourism.
The Korean Central News Agency <a href="https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1750935738-331924234/tourist-attraction-on-east-coast%E2%80%93new-scenic-beauty-of-socialist-cultural-efflorescence-inaugural-ceremony-of-wonsan-kalma-coastal-tourist-area-held-with-splendour/">claims</a> the resort spans four kilometers of coastline in the city of Wosan, and can accommodate 20,000 people. Amenities include “sea-bathing service facilities and various sports, amusement, commercial and public catering facilities.”
“Kim Jong Un, the great artist of creation and construction and the dear father … is ushering in a new era of prosperity and development,&#8221; KCNA said.
The state-run news service reports Kim Jong Un took an active role in the construction of the resort, stating that it was “what he most wanted to do for the people,” and that it was “a prelude to a new era of our country’s tourism.” He reportedly expressed his desire that the resort be “without an equal in the world.”
Attendees of the inaugural ceremony included top North Korean officials, as well as the Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora and his staff, BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w59r54w9o">reported</a>.
It’s unlikely that the resort will actually live up to Pyongyang’s description. The state media consistently praises Kim’s new pet building projects in the highest terms, when in reality, they lack basic functions or are unable to perform basic operations.
In April, Kim announced the completion of a 10,000-unit apartment complex in Pyongyang, calling it a “beautiful and modern urban quarter” heralding “a new era of prosperity.” However, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/style/north-korea-hwasong-pyongyang-housing-intl-hnk/index.html">noted</a> during a visit that the elevators were inoperable due to electricity shortages.
In 2014, a new Pyongyang apartment building <a href="https://nypost.com/2014/05/17/kim-jong-un-sat-up-all-night-after-serious-construction-accident/">collapsed</a> due to structural defects.
In May, Kim’s new 5,000-ton naval destroyer, which was supposed to be “North Korea’s most ambitious naval modernization effort in decades,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/asia/north-korea-destroyer-accident-intl-hnk-ml">capsized</a> during its launch.
It is unclear whether the resort will be open to Westerners. North Korea shut down its borders in 2020, reopening them to Russians in 2023 and Westerners in February 2025 for a short period before closing them again in March.
Currently, the United States prohibits citizens from travelling to North Korea due to the lack of diplomatic relations and “the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”
This tragically played out in 2016 when Otto Warmbier, a student at Virginia University, travelled to North Korea for a Christmas break trip. North Korea alleges he stole a propaganda poster, and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. Though U.S. diplomats tried to get him released, he was returned brain-dead a year and a half into his sentence.
The resort is “unlikely to be a major draw for most Western tourists,” <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w59r54w9o">says</a> Rowan Beard, co-founder of exotic tour company Young Pioneer Tours.
&#8220;Key sites like Pyongyang, the DMZ, and other brutalist or communist landmarks will continue to be the main highlights for international visitors once broader tourism resumes.&#8221;

North Korea Praises ‘Great Artist Of Creation’ Kim Jong Un As Beach Resort Opens

Propaganda

North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday designed to threaten the United States, the first ICBM test in nearly a year.
The test comes less than a week before the U.S. presidential election and as North Korea sends thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s military in the war in Ukraine. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called the test “an appropriate military action” in response to threatening moves from its adversaries.
“The test-fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals, who have intentionally escalated the regional situation and posed a threat to the security of our Republic recently, of our counteraction will,” Kim was quoted in North Korea state news, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-conducts-longest-icbm-test-amid-storm-over-troop-deployment-russia-2024-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a>.
Officials in Japan, South Korea, and the United States identified the tested missile as an ICBM and condemned the launch for raising tensions, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-icbm-test-mainland-us-more-agile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
The ICBM stayed in flight for 86 minutes and achieved a maximum altitude of 4,350 miles, longer and higher than any other North Korean missile observed to date, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters. The missile was launched from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and landed in the Sea of Japan.
The last ICBM North Korea tested, a Hwasong-18 ICBM, was fired in December. The last major weapons test conducted by North Korea took place in September when the North Korean military test-fired a Hwasong-11 short-range ballistic missile, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/world/asia/north-korea-missile-launch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.
The weapons test comes as North Korea has deployed as many as 12,000 troops to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine, according to American and South Korean officials. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin <a href="https://apnews.com/article/united-states-north-korea-russia-ukraine-war-faeabb0b2c2ea162bbc6c4691df4d6c8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Wednesday that North Korean troops in Russian uniforms and using Russian equipment are moving toward Ukraine.
Last week, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/north-korean-troops-who-join-russia-in-ukraine-war-are-fair-targets-u-s-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the North Korean troops “fair game” if they enter the war against Ukraine.
“They’re fair targets and the Ukrainian military will defend themselves against North Korean soldiers the same way they’re defending themselves against Russian soldiers,” Kirby said. “There could be dead and wounded North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine.”

North Korea Tests Long-Range Missile After Deploying Troops To Russia

North Korea Tests ICBM After Deploying Troops To Russia

ballistic missiles

United States

Elton John made it clear during a recent interview that he was not offended in the least when former President Donald Trump sampled one of his songs in devising a nickname for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un — in fact, he said that he found it &#8220;hilarious.&#8221;
The musician told Variety that while he was certainly not in agreement with many of Trump&#8217;s policies, he knew that the former president was a big fan of his music and had always been friendly with him.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Elton John on his reaction to Donald Trump calling Kim Jong Un “Little Rocket Man”: “I laughed, I thought that was brilliant&#8230; I’ve always been friendly toward him, and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious.” <a href="https://t.co/QXV9VqAtuT">https://t.co/QXV9VqAtuT</a> <a href="https://t.co/MNhsNzFwlR">pic.twitter.com/MNhsNzFwlR</a>
— Variety (@Variety) <a href="https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1832508568798371871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
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During an interview with Variety at the Toronto Film Festival, John was asked what he thought of the fact that Trump had borrowed from his song when he referred to the North Korean dictator as &#8220;Little Rocket Man.&#8221;
&#8220;I laughed, I thought that was brilliant,&#8221; John said with a smile. &#8220;I just thought, &#8216;Good on you, Donald.'&#8221;
&#8220;Donald&#8217;s always been a fan of mine, and he&#8217;s been to my concerts many, many times,&#8221; the singer continued. &#8220;So I’ve always been friendly toward him, and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious.&#8221;
John had another laugh upon being informed that the North Korean dictator had not understood the moniker at first, prompting Trump to send him an autographed CD.
&#8220;Of course he hasn’t heard of me, Kim Jong Un. I’d be very surprised if he had. I’ve never toured North Korea, and I have no intention of doing so,&#8221; John added. &#8220;But, I thought it was a light moment, and it was fun.&#8221;

2024 Toronto International Film Festival – “Elton John: Never Too Late” Premiere

‘I Thought That Was Brilliant’: Elton John Is Fine With Trump’s ‘Rocket Man’ Comments

'I Thought That Was Brilliant': Elton John Is Fine With Trump's 'Rocket Man' Comments

Elton John

Media

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, where, on Wednesday, the two dictators signed a mutual defense agreement.
Putin&#8217;s North Korea trip marks his first visit to the Hermit Kingdom in 24 years, and the Russian president was greeted with fanfare and crowds of North Koreans chanting his name, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-meets-kim-north-korea-rcna157665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Following his meeting with Kim, Putin said the leaders signed &#8220;a truly breakthrough document&#8221; that boosts security, trade, and humanitarian agreements. Kim <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vladimir-putin-kim-jong-un-russia-north-korea-summit-ukraine-a6b8d2c12de7ee2ab6716d4747c9850e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the agreement the &#8220;strongest ever treaty&#8221; between the two countries.
The Russian president said U.S. allies Japan and South Korea were &#8220;hostile to North Korea&#8221; and labeled U.S. policy toward Kim as &#8220;confrontational,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/19/asia/north-korea-russia-putin-visit-thursday-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>. Biden administration officials have expressed concern that increased ties between Russia and North Korea will help boost Kim&#8217;s nuclear capabilities and help supply Putin&#8217;s forces with ammunition as it continues its assault on Ukraine.
Putin thanked Kim for continuing to support Russia in its “fight against the imperialist hegemonistic policies of the U.S. and its satellites against the Russian Federation.” Kim <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kim-jong-un-expected-to-meet-with-putin-for-weapons-talks-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visited</a> Putin in the Russian port city of Vladivostok last September to discuss weapons shipments to Russia.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vladimir-putin-kim-jong-un-russia-north-korea-summit-ukraine-a6b8d2c12de7ee2ab6716d4747c9850e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Tuesday that Putin&#8217;s visit to North Korea shows the Russian leader is trying &#8220;in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine.”
Six senior U.S. officials told NBC News that the Biden administration believes Russia is sending North Korea ballistic missile technology in exchange for munitions the country is supplying to Russian troops. The U.S. <a href="https://www.state.gov/imposing-measures-in-response-to-navalnys-death-and-two-years-of-russias-full-scale-war-against-ukraine/#:~:text=Since%20September%202023%2C%20the%20DPRK,conflict%20since%20early%20October%202023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in February that North Korea has sent &#8220;10,000 containers of munitions or munitions-related materials to Russia&#8221; since the Kim-Putin meeting in September of 2023.
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While details of the new agreement are still not fully known, the Russia-North Korea security treaty appears to be the strongest between the two countries since 1961, when the former Soviet Union promised to aid North Korea if it was attacked, the Associated Press reported. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and North Korea agreed to a weaker security deal in 2000.

Vladimir Putin/Kim Jong Un

Putin Signs ‘Breakthrough’ Mutual Defense Agreement With Kim Jong Un

Putin Signs 'Breakthrough' Mutual Defense Agreement With Kim Jong Un

Biden Administration

Ukraine-Russia War

South Dakota Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kristi-noem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristi Noem</a> is reportedly going back and correcting things that she wrote in her new book after some of the claims have received scrutiny.
Noem said in her new book, &#8220;No Going Back,&#8221; that she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while she was in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee.
&#8220;Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee, I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/03/kristi-noem-book-excerpt-nikki-haley-dog-00155925" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in the book set to be released this week. &#8220;I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).&#8221;
Syd Seiler, a former U.S. intelligence officer who spent his career working on America&#8217;s relationship with North Korea, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/south-dakota-gov-noem-erroneously-describes-meeting-north-109911302" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;Nothing like this happened.&#8221;
The Associated Press reported that Noem&#8217;s team indicated that her claim was made in error and that corrections would be made to future copies that are published.
Another example that Noem mentioned in the book that has drawn scrutiny was her statement that she was going to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, but decided to cancel on him.
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Macron&#8217;s office told the AP that no &#8220;direct invitation&#8221; was ever made for Noem to meet Macron, although they apparently said she could have been invited to an event at which he was scheduled to also be.
A spokesperson for Noem said that she was &#8220;invited to sit in President Macron’s box for the Armistice Day Parade at Arc de Triomphe. Following his anti-Israel comments, she chose to cancel.&#8221;
Noem also made remarks about former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley that a spokesperson for Haley strongly disputed.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kristi-noem-defends-decision-to-shoot-her-puppy-had-shown-aggressive-behavior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristi Noem Defends Decision To Shoot Her Puppy: ‘Had Shown Aggressive Behavior’</a>

Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem To Correct Errors Made In New Book

General

South Dakota

The White House issued a rare threat on Saturday in an effort to enhance deterrence, promising an overwhelming military response to any attack by North Korea.
The announcement came in a joint statement at the conclusion of the second U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting in Washington D.C. on December 15, 2023.
&#8220;The United States reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to provide extended deterrence to the ROK, backed by the full range of U.S. capabilities including nuclear,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime, and the U.S. side reiterated that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the ROK will be met with a swift, overwhelming, and decisive response.&#8221;
The U.S. and South Korea said that the NCG has &#8220;deepened&#8221; the ties between the two countries as they seek to deter an increasingly belligerent North Korea.
&#8220;NCG Principals reviewed the enhanced visibility of strategic assets to bolster extended deterrence, including the ballistic missile submarine the USS KENTUCKY port visit to Busan in July, B-52 strategic bomber flyover and landing on the Korean Peninsula in October, and joint observation of an ICBM test launch in November, as well as discussing future plans to demonstrate a strengthening of deterrence,&#8221; the statement added.
The statement comes after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has had his country in recent months <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/31/north-korea-says-it-simulated-nuclear-attacks-on-south-korea-and-rehearsed-occupation-of-its-rival/">conduct</a> simulated &#8220;scorched earth&#8221; nuclear missile strikes against South Korea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin receives North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un in Vladivostok

Biden Admin Issues Rare Threat To Enhance Deterrence Against Hostile Foreign Power

U.S.

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