US leader’s zigzagging on NK deepens uncertainty

The challenge comes the fact that Trump keeps throwing out inconsistent remarks on North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un. His “maximum pressure and engagement” policy on the North’s nuclear and missile threats is also no less ambiguous than the “strategic patience” of the Barack Obama administration. 
In his first months as US president, Trump tried – and succeeded – in pushing North Korea to the top of the US agenda. His endeavors focused on putting pressure both on North Korea and its communist ally China. 
The Trump administration’s pressure on North Korea and China was highlighted by the declaration that “all options are on the table” – opening the possibility of military action and a pre-emptive strike. Talk of a possible war quickly flourished. 
But the new US approach unveiled after a government-wide review also underscored the need for diplomatic means to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. 
Granted, strong-arm tactics could be a useful to get the recalcitrant, wayward North back to the negotiation table. But Trump and his policy aides have yet to offer a clear path to halting the North’s nuclear and missile threats. 
Then came the ruckus over the cost of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence antimissile system. None other than Trump started it by openly saying South Korea should pick up the $1-billion tab for installing the system to shoot down North Korean missiles. 
In the face of uproar in Seoul, Trump’s national security adviser played down what his boss said, but, HR McMaster still mentioned the need to renegotiate the deal on South Korea providing the land and the US shouldering the operating cost of the THAAD battery. 
Once again, Trump is shaping policy with the rough tool of his “America First” catchphrase. Having accused US allies like South Korea, Japan and Germany of taking a free ride for security, he now wants to use the THAAD issue to demand Seoul pay more for the upkeep of the 28,000 American troops in South Korea. 
In other words, Trump puts as much weight on financial calculations as on the strategic value of the South Korea-US alliance, which for decades has contributed to upholding freedom and democracy in the region. 
Trump’s zigzagging on Kim Jong-un is also cause for concern. Over the past week alone, he provided strikingly different assessments of the North Korean leader. 
In one interview, Trump said that Kim was “very threatening” and that he says terrible things in an apparent reference to the 34-year-old dictator’s pursuit of nuclear arsenal and an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the mainland US. 
“North Korea weighs on me, but we have to be prepared for the worst,” Trump told an interviewer. 
In another interview, he sounded like a totally different man, saying the North Korean leader was a “smart cookie” who secured power at a young age despite adversity. 
Trump went on to say he would be “honoured” to meet Kim. 
By now, we are familiar with this kind of flip-flop on Trump’s part – during his campaign he called Kim a “maniac” but then said he was willing to meet him over a “hamburger”. 
It is unsettling to deal with a US leader who habitually resorts to bravado, bluster and loud talk and, far more seriously, exhibits inconsistency and incoherence in a policy as critical as the one on North Korea. It is indeed challenging for us to be simultaneously wary of two men well known for their erratic, impulsive and unpredictable acts.