Trump not bothered by NK missile tests

President Donald Trump said yesterday that he is not “personally bothered” by recent short-range missile tests that North Korea conducted this month, breaking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is hosting the president on four-day state visit full of pageantry Standing beside Trump at a news conference after hours of talks, Abe disagreed with the US president, saying the missile tests violated UN Security Council resolutions and were “of great regret.”

Abe, who has forged a strong friendship with Trump and agrees with him on many issues, is concerned because the short-range missiles pose a threat to Japan’s security. Trump was invited to Japan to be the first world leader to meet with its new emperor . Despite being far from Washington, he didn’t miss the chance to lob another broadside against former Vice President Joe Biden, one of the Democrats seeking to challenge Trump in next year’s presidential election.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un recently criticized Biden as having a low I.Q. and Trump told the world he agreed with the authoritarian leader’s assessment. When asked if he was bothered by Pyongyang’s short-range missile tests, Trump said: “No, I’m not. I am personally not.” The president has sought to downplay the significance of the missile tests, despite the fact that his own national security adviser, John Bolton, said over the weekend that they violated U.N. resolutions. Trump continues to hold out hope of eventually getting Kim to agree to give up his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, despite two summits he’s had with the North Korean leader that produced no concrete pledge to denuclearize the peninsula.

Trump praised Kim, calling him a “smart man” who might have launched the missiles earlier this month to “get attention.” “All I know is there have been no nuclear tests, no ballistic missiles going out, no long-range missiles going out and I think that someday we’ll have a deal,” Trump said, adding that he is in “no rush.” Abe reiterated his previous statement that the tests were carried out in defiance of the UN.

The leaders held hours of talks after the US president — at Abe’s invitation — became the first world leader to meet Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, who ascended to the throne May 1. The meeting with Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, was preceded by a grand outdoor welcome ceremony at Japan’s Imperial Palace, where Trump walked solo across red carpets, reviewing Japanese troops as the guest of honor.