President Donald Trump said Tuesday via Twitter: “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
WASHINGTON — In a possible opening for diplomacy, the Trump administration on Thursday agreed to delay joint military exercises with South Korea until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The decision could help reduce tensions as the Koreas consider holding their first direct talks in two years, even though Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted the delay was a practical necessity to accommodate the Olympics, not a political gesture.
Mattis said the drill would be conducted sometime after the Winter Paralympics, which will be held March 8-18 following the Feb. 9-25 Olympic Games.
“For us, it’s a practical matter,” Mattis told journalists in an impromptu encounter at the Pentagon, citing the wide array of logistics and transportation support required to conduct the Olympics, some of which would otherwise be tied up with military exercises.
The White House said President Donald Trump approved the postponement in consultation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. It said the delay will allow U.S. and South Korean forces to “focus on ensuring the security of the games.”
People watch as a screen shows footage of the launch of a Hwasong-12 rocket, beside a billboard advertising North Korea's Pyeonghwa Motors (R), in Pyongyang on September 16, 2017.
North Korea said on September 16 it was seeking military "equilibrium" with the United States as leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to complete Pyongyang's nuclear programme. /KIM WON-JIN/AFP/Getty Images
Kcna Via Kns /, AFP/Getty Images
This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 16, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location.
Kim vowed to complete North Korea's nuclear force despite sanctions, saying the final goal of his country's weapons development is "equilibrium of real force" with the United States, state media reported on September 16.
Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press
A woman watches a TV screen showing a file footage of North Korea's missile launch, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, a Taurus missile fired from a South Korean air force F-15K fighter jet hits a target during a drill, off the country's western coast, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. South Korea says it conducted its first live-fire drill for an advanced air-launched cruise missile it says will strengthen its pre-emptive strike capability against North Korea in the event of crisis. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP).
Eugene Hoshiko, The Associated Press
A man watches a TV news program on a public screen showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while reporting North Korea's possible nuclear test in Tokyo Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. South Korea's military said Sunday that North Korea is believed to have conducted its sixth nuclear test after it detected a strong earthquake, hours after Pyongyang claimed that its leader has inspected a hydrogen bomb meant for a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
Shizuo Kambayashi, Associated Press file
In this Aug. 6, 2017, file photo, a man takes a photo of a TV news program in Tokyo, showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.N. experts say North Korea illegally exported coal, iron and other commodities worth at least $270 million to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka during the six-month period ending in Aug. in violation of U.N. sanctions.
KRT via AP Video, Associated Press file
In this Dec. 12, 2012 file image made from video, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket lifts off from the Sohae launching station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea's top governing body warned Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 that the regime will conduct its third nuclear test in defiance of U.N. punishment, and made clear that its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the United States.
Greg Baker, AFP/Getty Images
The North Korean town of Sinuiju (at rear) is seen behind the Friendship Bridge (L) which connects Sinuiju and the the Chinese border city of Dandong, and the Broken Bridge (R), in Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on Sept. 4, 2017.
Countries around the world swiftly condemned North Korea's announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb on September 3, with South Korea calling for the "strongest punishment" against Pyongyang while key ally China strongly condemned it. The Broken Bridge was bombed during the Korean War and now reaches only half way across the river.
Greg Baker, AFP/Getty Images
Lights are seen in the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Friendship Bridge (L) which connects Sinuiju and the the Chinese border city of Dandong, and the Broken Bridge (R), in Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on Sept. 3, 2017.
Countries around the world swiftly condemned North Korea's announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb on September 3, with South Korea calling for the "strongest punishment" against Pyongyang while key ally China strongly condemned it. The Broken Bridge was bombed during the Korean War and now reaches only half way across the river.
Yonhap, AFP/Getty Images
South Korea's Capital Defense Command soldiers take part in a military drill in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2017.
Following North Korea's sixth nuclear test, South Korean President Moon Jae-In called for the "strongest punishment" while top military officers in Seoul and Washington vowed a joint "military counteraction" at the earliest date.
Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press
South Korean army's K-1 tanks move during a military exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. Following U.S. warnings to North Korea of a "massive military response," South Korea's military on Monday fired missiles into the sea to simulate an attack on the North's main nuclear test site a day after Pyongyang detonated its largest ever nuclear test explosion.
Greg Baker, AFP/Getty Images
A North Korean soldier stands on the bank of the Yalu river near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on Sept. 4, 2017.
The five-nation BRICS grouping meeting in China said on September 4 it "strongly deplores" North Korea's latest nuclear test, adding to global condemnation of Pyongyang.
Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press
South Korean army soldiers take positions with their K-55 self-propelled howitzers during a military exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. North Korea said it set off a hydrogen bomb Sunday in its sixth nuclear test, which judging by the earthquake it set off appeared to be its most powerful explosion yet.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
In this undated image distributed on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location. North Korea’s state media on Sunday, Sept 3, 2017, said leader Kim Jong Un inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a claim to technological mastery that some outside experts will doubt but that will raise already high worries on the Korean Peninsula. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.
Eugene Hoshiko, Associated Press file
In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) demonstrates the training to utilize the PAC-3 surface to air interceptors at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Fussa, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Japan is debating whether to develop limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat. Japan currently has a two-step missile defense system, interceptors on destroyers in the Sea of Japan, and if they fail, surface-to-air PAC-3s.
Yonhap News/Newscom/Zuma Press/TNS
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a military parade held in Pyongyang to mark the 105th birthday of late founder Kim Il-sung on April 15, 2017.
Wong Maye-E, Associated Press file
In this April 15, 2017, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea said Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 that leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military's plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam as part of an effort to create "enveloping fire" near the U.S. military hub in the Pacific.
KRT via AP Video
This image made from video aired by North Korea's KRT on Aug. 26, 2017 shows a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting soldiers during what Korean Central News Agency called a "target=striking contest" at unknown location in North Korea.
Kim Kwang Hyon, The Associated Press
North Koreans watch a televised news broadcast of the test-fire of a ballistic rocket Wednesday in Pyongyang, North Korea. On Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile directly over Japan -- the type of missile that could reach American, South Korean and Japanese military bases in northeast Asia.
Lee Jin-man, Associated Press file
In this Tuesday, April 23, 2013, file photo, a North Korean soldier looks at the southern side through a pair of binoculars at the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea. Threatening to fire a volley of missiles toward a major U.S. military hub _ and the home to 160,000 American civilians _ may seem like a pretty bad move for a country that is seriously outgunned and has an awful lot to lose. But pushing the envelope, or just threatening to do so, is what North Korea does best.
Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press
South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in South Korea's Paju near the border with North Korea, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017.
Yosuke Mizuno. Kyodo News via AP
A PAC-3 interceptor unit arrives at a garrison of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in Kaita, Hiroshima prefecture, southwestern Japan, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Japan started deploying land-based Patriot interceptors after North Korea threatened to send ballistic missiles flying over western Japan and landing near Guam. The Defense Ministry said Friday the PAC-3 surface-to-air interceptors are being deployed at four locations - Hiroshima, Kochi, Shimane and Ehime.
The agreement delays a set of annual military exercises known as Foal Eagle, which normally are held between February and April.
Foal Eagle is a series of exercises designed to test the readiness of the two countries’ militaries. North Korea routinely objects to such maneuvers as a rehearsal for an invasion, and there had been fears that tensions could interfere with the Games occurring about 50 miles south of the heavily militarized border.
For the first time in months, high-level diplomatic action between North and South is taking place. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently reopened a key cross-border communication channel with South Korea that had been dormant since February 2016, and the neighbors are exploring the possibility of a formal dialogue.
Asked whether delaying the military maneuvers was a quid pro quo in response to Kim’s reopening of cross-border communications, Mattis said, “No. Those talks are clearly the result of the amount of international pressure (on North Korea), and they are a way for North Korea to start talking while keeping it contained to a benign issue.”
Later he said, “In terms of whether it’s a one-off (gesture) from him or a real olive branch, I don’t know.” He said there can be little doubt that international pressure, including sanctions ordered by the U.N. Security Council, is having some effect on Kim’s calculations.
North Korea also has expressed interest in sending a delegation to participate in the Olympics.
Although the decision was announced Thursday, the idea of delaying the military exercises had been under quiet discussion for weeks. U.S. officials had understood the South Korean military would be heavily committed to providing logistical support for the Games.
Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which advocates for nuclear disarmament, wrote in a tweet that the delay is a welcome move to lessen hostilities after Trump’s latest tweets about the size of his nuclear “button.” Cirincione wrote: “Korean leaders have convinced him to take a step back from the brink.”
In a tweet early Thursday, Trump claimed his tough stance on nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula is helping push North Korea and South Korea to talk, although that assertion is in conflict with some of Trump’s own statements. Last year, he ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for talking about negotiations with the North.
Trump tweeted on Thursday, “Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to commit our total ‘might’ against the North.”
Earlier this week, Trump seemed open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after Kim made a rare overture toward South Korea in a New Year’s address. But Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations insisted that talks won’t be meaningful unless the North is getting rid of its nuclear weapons.
The overture about talks came after Trump and Kim traded more bellicose claims about their nuclear weapons.
In his New Year’s address, Kim repeated fiery nuclear threats against the U.S. Kim said he has a “nuclear button” on his office desk and warned that “the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike.”
Trump mocked that assertion Tuesday evening, tweeting: “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
WASHINGTON — With the deadline clock ticking, President Donald Trump on Thursday huddled with Republican lawmakers and invited a bipartisan group to the White House next week to try to work out a deal on immigration.
President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on former top adviser Steve Bannon, responding to a new book that portrays Trump as an undisciplined man-child who didn’t actually want to win the White House and quotes Bannon as calling his son’s contact with a Russian lawyer “treasonous.”
