Evan Osnos Talks to David Remnick About Donald Trump's Provocations of a Nuclear North Korea

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

President, Barack, News, Politics, Wnyc, Obama, Lizza, Washington, Wickenden

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2017

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Donald Trump mocked Kim Jong Un by calling him “rocket man,” and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U.S. or its allies were attacked. Kim, in turn, dismissed Trump as a “barking dog.” Evan Osnos recently reported from Washington and Pyongyang on the tensions between the United States and North Korea. Osnos tells David Remnick that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons; they are no longer a bargaining chip but a source of national identity and security. Despite the forceful rhetoric and threats, Osnos found little appetite for war in either government, concluding that North Korea is not “a suicidal cult.” And he predicts that Trump will contain the risk, rather than eliminate it.

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1:12.2	I'm Dorothy Wickend. On today's Politics and More podcast, David Remneck talks to New Yorker
1:18.0	staff writer Evan Osnose. Evan recently returned from a trip to Pyongyang, where he spoke with
1:23.7	North Koreans about President Trump's recent threats.
1:36.1	The provocations by Kim Jong-un's government keep escalating, and Donald Trump's rhetoric is following suit.
1:42.2	He said at the United Nations that we would totally destroy North Korea if the U.S. or its allies were ever attacked.
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