It’s almost as though the rest of the world smells weakness emanating from the White House, and the American place on the world’s stage is being diminished on account of it.
Take, for instance, North Korea: A tiny, poor, and militarily weak nation halfway across the world who this week decided that they would threaten the United States with nuclear annihilation.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned he’s ready to use his nuclear weapons in potential military conflicts with the United States and South Korea, state media said Thursday, as he unleashed fiery rhetoric against rivals he says are pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.
Kim’s speech to war veterans on the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War were apparently meant to boost internal unity in the impoverished country suffering pandemic-related economic difficulties. North Korea will likely intensify its threats against the United States and South Korea as the allies prepare to expand summertime exercises the North views as an invasion rehearsal, some observers say.
“Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilize its absolute power dutifully, exactly and swiftly in accordance with its mission,” Kim said in Wednesday’s speech, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
And then:
He accused the United States of “demonizing” North Korea to justify its hostile policies. He said U.S.-South Korea military drills show the U.S.’s “double standards” and “gangster-like” aspects because it brands North Korea’s routine military activities — an apparent reference to its missile tests — as provocations or threats.
Just a few scant years ago, when Donald Trump was sitting in the Oval Office, Kim Jong Un went so far as to actually invite the US President to North Korea, making Trump the first US President to ever step foot in the hermit kingdom.
My how the times have changed.
