OpinionDonald Trump looks at dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and sees role models

Robert Delaney says that when the US president witnessed Kim at the inter-Korean summit, he may have felt pride in bringing Kim to the negotiating table, but also envy at the young leader’s dictatorial powers

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US President Donald Trump has emphasised his strength as a leader and been criticised as having an affinity with other “strongmen”. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:00pm, 30 Apr 2018Updated: 8:02pm, 30 Apr 2018

US President Donald Trump must have mixed emotions about last week’s historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea.

He has, characteristically, taken credit for the conditions that caused Kim Jong-un to agree to a formal end to the Korean war and to denuclearise his country.

Many analysts agree that the US leader’s hardline approach to Kim, matching every provocation by Pyongyang with even stronger threats to annihilate North Korea, ultimately played a role in the current detente.

Trump has a stronger argument for vindication with respect to Korea than he has against those investigating and suing him in the United States over issues ranging from alleged collusion with Russia by his campaign and administration associates and payouts to women claiming to have had sex with him.

Any number of factors could explain the cessation of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests, as well as Kim’s sudden friendly overtures to Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but clear signals from the US leader that Washington was not going to offer any concessions surely figured into the strategy behind Kim’s diplomatic outreach.