Calm Before The Storm? North Korea Still Mum On Trump Summit

CDN  "Due to President Trump’s foreign policy, North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un 
has invited  Trump to talk about the denuclearization of the hermit kingdom.
 Cartoon by A.F. Branco.

Yeshiva World News  "News of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent shockwaves around the globe. But in North Korea — as of Monday, several days after the announcement — not a word about it had been reported by the state-run media.

"Pyongyang has been surprisingly quiet on the slew of momentous, and possibly even historic, events that have come in quick succession over the past few months.

"It has essentially barred foreign media from visiting the country for more than a month and, while trumpeting the need for better inter-Korean relations, clung to the same anti-U.S., pro-nuclear weapons tone it struck at the height of its missile-testing frenzy last year.

"Officials in Seoul say Pyongyang is keeping them in the dark as well.

"“Regarding the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting, there hasn’t been an official response by the North Korean government. So we think North Korea is having a cautious approach on the issue as it needs time to organize its stance,” Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said Monday.

"It’s not unusual for the North Korean media to take their time in getting out the news." . . . 

Trump's Korea proposal drives Maddow crazy . . . "One could reasonably question this move: the desired goals to be achieved, the points of discussion to be covered, the suddenness of the decision, or any of several aspects of the announcement.  (Maddow does cover some of that later.)  But to wrongfully go into high dudgeon over the fact that this is an "unprecedented move" betrays Maddow as one who attacks Trump because...well, because he is Trump." . . .

This Is What Leadership Looks Like  "Well, well, well.  So Mister Trump is going to meet with the leader of North Korea.  Stunning.  For someone who's universally castigated as being a clueless, all thumbs palooka of a leader, this fellow sure gets a lot of things done.  Very significant things.  One might even say world transforming." . . .

. . . "Real leadership is when one is willing to sit down with an adversary, and hammer out a solution.  Martin Luther King was a great man, and thoroughly deserved his Peace Prize.  He was a disruptor who changed America.  Donald Trump is a disruptor of a different kind, but no less compelling.  He's about to confound his critics once again.  Let's hope their heads don't explode."