Trump Is ‘Not Disturbed’ by North Korea’s Rocket Launches, Directly Contradicting Bolton

May 26, 2019 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump, in Tokyo for a state visit, dismissed the North Korean rocket launches of earlier this month and said he was confident that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, would keep promises that he had made. “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me....” Trump said today on Twitter.

Trump’s comment about “some of my people” was a clear reference to his National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had claimed hours earlier that the rocket launches were UN violations. “UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from firing any ballistic missiles,” Bolton told reporters in Tokyo. “In terms of violating UN Security Council resolutions, there is no doubt about that.”

Trump’s tweet left chicken-hawk Bolton looking even more foolish than usual.

Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, expressed a view similar to his Commander-in-Chief. “My own perspective is that militaries around the world conduct routine military activities that include training of their specific capabilities, and we ought to just leave it at that,” Abrams said on May 22 during the U.S. Army’s Land Forces Pacific Symposium in Honolulu, when asked about North Korea’s missile launches. “I can tell you this, recent activities on the peninsula by the D.P.R.K. have not changed the palpable reduction of tension on the peninsula and the door for diplomacy remains open.”