Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has sounded the alarm on President Donald Trump’s decision to “rekindle his courtship” with a notorious dictator.
Trump, 80, announced on Sunday that he planned to “substantially reduce” America’s joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with his friend, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,” Trump posted, just hours before the military trials were due to begin.
The president also posted, talking about himself in the third person, that conducting the joint U.S. military drills with South Korea would “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”
But a new editorial by the Murdoch flagship paper titled “Trump Romances Kim Jong Un Again” claims the “impulsive” president’s latest “brainstorm” is to “rekindle his courtship” of the North Korean dictator, starting with his U-turn on the military drills.
“Pulling back from the exercises sends a message of weakening deterrence and readiness against a regime that has a history of threats and aggression against the South,” the editorial in the conservative broadsheet owned by News Corp read.
“The North had protested, as usual, ahead of the routine exercises, and Mr. Trump’s order is an act of appeasement toward Mr. Kim.”
Last Friday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry threatened unspecified action against the U.S. and South Korea, describing their joint military drills as “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that are triggering greater instability in the region.
“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement said, as reported by Politico. North Korea also said the drills would be of a “more serious provocative nature and dangerousness than last year.”
The Journal editorial also called out Trump’s swipe at South Korea in his Truth Social post for not assisting the U.S. with the “Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“This will reinforce the growing belief in Asia and Europe that the U.S. is becoming an unreliable ally,” the Journal wrote.
It also warned of the potential threat of Seoul developing its own nuclear arsenal to take on North Korea’s own growing supply of nuclear weapons.
“Mr. Trump may not mean for any of this to happen, but in the wake of Mr. Trump’s uncertain trumpet on Iran, the world is wondering about U.S. staying power.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump was questioned about his decision to ax the military drills on Monday, and gushed over how Kim treated him with “respect.”
“How do you respond to the folks who say that you are prioritizing the interests of adversaries in North Korea over our long-term partners?” a reporter asked.
“I’m making it much safer. You see, I’m actually making it much safer. Kim Jong Un has always treated me with great respect,” Trump declared.
The president said he met and spoke with the dictator, claiming, “I understand him. He understands me,” and insisting, “I get along with him.”
“He didn’t like Biden. He didn’t like Obama. He didn’t like anybody, but I get along with him very well,” Trump said.
