There's yet another piece in The Atlantic criticizing President Trump. This latest one is by Peter Beinart and it explains why South Korea's president is right and Trump is wrong about how to deal with North Korea. Beinart's thesis is that South Korea wants to consider stopping the joint military exercises it holds with the USA periodically in exchange for the NK's agreeing to stop missile and bomb testing. President Trump, however, is wrongly continuing to threaten the North Koreans with military moves.
Here's how Beinart puts it:
South Korean President Moon Jae In favors a different approach. In June, his top adviser on North Korean affairs proposed that “we and the U.S. can discuss reducing the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises if North Korea suspends its nuclear weapons and missile activities.” Moon himself reportedly broached the idea with Trump when he visited Washington in July. This sort of mutual freeze, the South Korean leader believes, could be the first step toward negotiations aimed at a formal peace agreement ending the Korean War. (Back in 1953, the opposing sides merely signed an armistice.) Moon, in other words, thinks the best way to limit North Korea’s nuclear program is by making America and South Korea less—not more—menacing to Pyongyang. That’s pretty much the opposite of Trump’s view.
The problem with this argument is that it is a phony. The Washington Post reported the other day that South Korea's government (led by President Moon) is proposing that the USA reintroduce American nuclear weapons to South Korea. That same government also just gave approval to a tripling of anti-missile systems installed in South Korea. President Moon also moved in other ways to reinforce his military position and alliance with the USA. Everything that Beinart makes reference to in his article happened before the latest nuclear bomb tests and before many of the continuing missile tests. Since then, the South Korean government has completely reversed course.
How can it be that Beinart writes about the South Korean view without bothering to mention that president Moon has totally changed his view? The answer, of course, is that Beinart couldn't write about the South Koreans agreeing with President Trump. I doubt that The Atlantic would publish such news. Instead of truth, they go with total Trump bashing.
Here's how Beinart puts it:
South Korean President Moon Jae In favors a different approach. In June, his top adviser on North Korean affairs proposed that “we and the U.S. can discuss reducing the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises if North Korea suspends its nuclear weapons and missile activities.” Moon himself reportedly broached the idea with Trump when he visited Washington in July. This sort of mutual freeze, the South Korean leader believes, could be the first step toward negotiations aimed at a formal peace agreement ending the Korean War. (Back in 1953, the opposing sides merely signed an armistice.) Moon, in other words, thinks the best way to limit North Korea’s nuclear program is by making America and South Korea less—not more—menacing to Pyongyang. That’s pretty much the opposite of Trump’s view.
The problem with this argument is that it is a phony. The Washington Post reported the other day that South Korea's government (led by President Moon) is proposing that the USA reintroduce American nuclear weapons to South Korea. That same government also just gave approval to a tripling of anti-missile systems installed in South Korea. President Moon also moved in other ways to reinforce his military position and alliance with the USA. Everything that Beinart makes reference to in his article happened before the latest nuclear bomb tests and before many of the continuing missile tests. Since then, the South Korean government has completely reversed course.
How can it be that Beinart writes about the South Korean view without bothering to mention that president Moon has totally changed his view? The answer, of course, is that Beinart couldn't write about the South Koreans agreeing with President Trump. I doubt that The Atlantic would publish such news. Instead of truth, they go with total Trump bashing.
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