Trump’s Trip to Asia
President Trump went on a trip to Asia earlier this month, specifically to Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, China, and the Philippines. The objective of this trip was to influence regional powers to cut off all relations with North Korea, in an effort to fully denuclearize North Korea. Since president Trump took office, tensions between the United States and North Korea have been gradually building up to the point where Trump must take action. In order to successfully take action against the North Korean regime, surrounding countries must unify to prevent North Korea from further threats and potential nuclear weapon blackmail. Through his trip in Asia, Trump went to rebuild friendships leaders across Asia. The objective of the trip was for Trump to focus on his relationships with the leaders of these regional powers so that they will side with the United States and their efforts to stop North Korea’s ballistic nuclear weapons program. No direct action was made against North Korea through this trip, but tensions continue to rise as North Korea sees the type of relationship Trump has developed with these regional powers.
President Trump with the president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in during a UN meeting
North Korea’s Response
North Korea did not take kindly to Trump’s visit to asia, as they believe it did no good but continue to provoke North Korea into a nuclear war with him. They believe this visit showed that he was a “destroyer of peace”, which only continues to worsen the relationship between the the United States and North Korea. President Trump’s visit to Asia was not meant to cause more tension, though it obviously has and this makes United State citizens worry even more about what could potentially happen. Although Trump’s visit to Asia was meant to strengthen his relationship with regional powers, North Korea saw this as a great offense. North Korea now has a weaker relationships with surrounding Asian countries who used to trade and finance for their nuclear weapons program. Trump’s visit has now motivated North Korea to continue strengthening their nuclear weapons technology and potentially trigger a nuclear war with the United States. Both nations are clear when they say that they cannot be underestimated.
North Korea is a growingly dangerous country and tensions between it and the United States are not good for citizens of both countries. Nuclear war is nothing to be joked about, and both countries possess arsenals that could not only ruin an entire country, but potentially the entire world. As the tension between North Korea and the United States grow, the fear of nuclear weapons being launched grows. North Korea seems to be the more trigger happy country at the time, as they boast about their weaponry nonstop. The problem is that as the United State’s president, Donald Trump, continues to cause more tension between the two countries, creating a greater fear of something actually happening. North Korea has come out and said they will not attack first despite the ridiculous statements made by President Trump, though what is worrisome is the potential for something to push North Korea over the edge and start World War III.
President Trump with China’s president Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un
Trump sentenced to death by North Korea
In recent news, the after effects of Trump’s Asia trip have increased the tension between North Korea and the U.S. Near the end of his Asia tour, Trump made some comments on his twitter that insulted Kim’s height and weight. The leader felt that his dignity was malignantly hurt. This was considered one of the greatest crimes and Trump would not be pardoned for his actions.According to North Korea’s state media, Trump has been sentenced to the death penalty. Trump was also deemed a coward for canceling his visit. This ongoing battle of words has caused much tension and many speculation about an upcoming war. The rhetoric used has been seen as unprofessional and immature.
Current News: Trump labels North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism
News on North Korea and the possibility of a nuclear war seem to have died down the past few months. Yet during Trumps trip to Asia, he has re-designated North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, nine years after it was removed from the list. Such a designation has significant sanctions against the country’s ability to receive US foreign assistance and puts a ban on defense exports and sales. It also allows the US to punish people or countries who trade with the designated countries. North Korea has been on the list before, but was removed in 2008 by George W Bush’s administration as part of negotiations on the North’s nuclear program. North Korea now joins Iran, Sudan, and Syria on a list of countries that are deemed to have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism” (BBC). This campaign to reinstate North Korea intensified after the American college student Otto Warmbier died shortly after he was released from North Korean custody.
Will re-designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism reduce tensions with North Korea? According to Mintaro Oba, a former Korea desk officer at the State Department, “…it is an action with symbolic value that will make it harder to get on a path toward denuclearization” (CNN). Secretary Tillerson hasn’t given up on a negotiated solution to the stand-off with North Korea, but the decision to put Pyongyang back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism will almost certainly set back the possibility of opening room for talk. This could prompt a backlash from North Korea- perhaps another missile test. Mr. Kim continues to pursue nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions. He has made no secret of Pyongyang’s plans to develop a missile that could possibly reach the US mainland, and has even claimed to develop a hydrogen bomb. It seems now that the threat of nuclear attack from North Korea is increasing once more.
A clash between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un
Conclusion
In the second edition of Global Politics: A New Introduction, chapter twelve by Elena Barabantseva, she asks the questions: “What is it that prompts us to associate with a particular national community? What factors drive and influence this identification process?” (Barabantseva 2014:245). Her main concern is “the question of how we come to identify with a nation is central to politics” (Barabantseva 2014:245). This relates to current news on North Korea, because the way North Korea identifies themselves can be categorized under the approach of primordialism. This is one of the two dominant approaches to nationalism that Barabantseva discusses. According to Barabantseva, primordialism emphasizes “the importance of objective factors in the formation of ethnic groups, such as language, common ancestry, religion, and so forth” (Barabantseva 2014:255). This is how North Korea identifies themselves because they focus their identity by all the factors listed above since they are governed by a monarchic family clan. Barabantseva also states that, “…a nation-state is a product of a historical process whereby ethnicities turn into political units and where the ethnic allegiances and cultural origins of nations are the central and most durable areas of alignment within a nation-state” (Barabantseva 2014:256). This relates to North Korea, in a negative aspect, because the country forces its citizens to base their political ideology on the obsession with glorifying Mr. Kim Jong-un.
In chapter eight of Global Politics: A New Introduction, Lisle answers the question How do we find out what’s going on in the world? In recent news, we are facing a twitter war between Kim and Trump. The 21st century has been revolving its news sources in social media platforms. In this chapter Lisle gives us an insight on how media bias is a real thing in current world issues. She states that “The news media are always pursuing an impossible goal: they strive for a neutral and objective reporting of events, knowing that such accuracy can never be achieved” (Lisle 2014:157) These twitter wars have caused many civilians to turn to twitter and give their two cents into these ludicrous comments. We have learned that the media is one of the top resources for current world issues and many biases come from these inputs.
Works Cited
1. C. (2017, November 11). North Korea says Trump begged for a war during his Asia trip. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from
2. Diamond, J. (2017, November 16). Trump claims 'America is back' post-Asia trip. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from
3. Dorell, O. (2017, November 17). North Korea won't strike U.S. first despite inflammatory threats, experts say. Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/11/17/north-korea-wont-strike-united-states-first-despite-inflammatory-threats/872508001/
4. Edkins, J., & Zehfuss, M. (2014). Global politics: a new introduction. London: Routledge.
5. France-Presse, A. (2017, November 15). North Korea 'sentences Trump to death' for insulting Kim Jong-un. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/north-korea-sentences-trump-to-death-for-insulting-kim-jong-un
6. Merica, D., Diamond, J., & Cohen, Z. (2017, November 20). Trump names North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/politics/president-donald-trump-north-korea-terrorism/index.html
7. Trump's Asia trip, in pictures. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/11/politics/trump-asia-tour-cnnphotos/
8. US declares North Korea 'sponsor of terror'. (2017, November 20). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42058686
Correct me if I am wrong, but Obama visited Asia several times while he was president, so Trump’s trip was not the first in over 20 years. Perhaps this was a typo. I really liked what your group wrote about the tensions building between North Korea and the US. Both of the countries leaders seem very hot-headed and like they don’t think things through well. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months, though it is reassuring that North Korea will not attack first. The effect of Trump’s tweets on politics is shown very clearly in the blog post.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you touched on a lot of different things in your post, I think it would have been really interesting though to hear more about the situation facing the nuclear war from North Korea's perspective (not to play the devil's advocate) but I think it is important for future talks related to the subject.
ReplyDeleteyou did a wonderful post, I am interesting President Trump's trip in China, especially in China. President Trump had a great meeting with our president, and they were discussing about the global issue include the North Korean issue and middle east issue. So I think you did a great job in this post especially the North Korean part.
ReplyDeleteThis was a good recap of Trump's trip to Asia and analyzed its implications well. However, I do think it's important to consider the rhetoric being used when discussing North Korea's actions – classifying North Korea as a "growingly dangerous country" implies that its actions are one-sided, rather than part of a dangerous back-and-forth that it partakes in with the U.S. (after all, Donald Trump is tweeting literal death threats to North Korea).
ReplyDeleteGreat job engaging the post and - pointing to some issues in the coverage that is taken at face value here...
ReplyDelete