2020 Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden released a statement Monday that was deeply critical of President Trump’s recent meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Biden’s statement came on the same day that Trump returned to the White House after spending time in South Korea that included a brief visit to North Korea and a short but cordial exchange with the dictator.
Biden said of the visit, “Yet again, Donald Trump has demonstrated that he is more concerned with a photo op for himself than getting results for the American people. He has repeatedly elevated Kim Jong Un — a murderous tyrant — on the international stage in exchange for almost nothing.” He further stated that Trump’s accomplishment in meeting with Kim Jong Un amounted to nothing more than a promise to restart negotiations the president had erroneously ended.
The former vice president also skewered Trump’s level of diplomacy and perceived lack of strategy, further calling the president “incompetent.” Of Trump’s relationship with Kim Jong Un, he said, “After three made-for-TV summits, we still don’t have a single concrete commitment from North Korea. Not one missile or nuclear weapon has been destroyed, not one inspector is on the ground. If anything, the situation has gotten worse. North Korea has continued to churn out fissile material and is no longer an isolated pariah on the world stage.”
Again condemning Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran last year, Biden said, “Iran needs to get back into compliance with its nuclear commitments, but Trump appears to have no plan for ensuring that result either. His policy of maximum pressure has produced worse than minimum results. Iran has now restarted its nuclear program and has become more, rather than less, aggressive. Trump’s Iran policy has alienated us from our allies and taken us to the brink of another war in the Middle East.”
The statement concluded, “Everything this president does is backwards.”
