Kim Jong Un

Saturday August 12, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 12, 2017

Trump warns North Korea’s Kim he will ‘truly regret’ further threats to US and allies

Donald Trump on Friday went further to turn the crisis over North Korea into a personal battle of wills between him and Kim Jong-un, warning the North Korean leader he would “truly regret” hostile acts against US territory or US allies.

The warning came a few hours after an early-morning tweet from the president that claimed US military options were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang “acted unwisely”.

The tweet triggered worldwide alarm and a rebuke from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: “I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer.”

But Trump stood by his words when asked about them at his golf resort in New Jersey.

“I hope they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” Trump said. “Those words are very, very easy to understand.”

He then issued an ultimatum to Kim Jong-un himself. “This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” he said. “If he utters one threat in form of overt threat – which, by the way, he’s been uttering for years – or if he does anything in respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it.”

The North Korean leadership has warned it will launch four missiles at the waters around US Pacific territory of Guam as a warning to the US if it persisted with its practice sorties by long-range bombers based on the island.

Despite gung-ho language from the US president, there was no change in US deployments in the region or a change in the alert status of US forces. And it was reported on Friday that the Trump administration had reopened a channel of communication between US and North Korean diplomats at the U.N. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

 

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Thursday August 10, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 10, 2017

Trump’s Threat to North Korea Was Improvised

President Trump delivered his “fire and fury” threat to North Korea on Tuesday with arms folded, jaw set and eyes flitting on what appeared to be a single page of talking points set before him on the conference table at his New Jersey golf resort.

April 15, 2013

The piece of paper, as it turned out, was a fact sheet on the opioid crisis he had come to talk about, and his ominous warning to Pyongyang was entirely improvised, according to several people with direct knowledge of what unfolded. In discussions with advisers beforehand, he had not run the specific language by them, though he had talked over possible responses in a general way.

The inflammatory words quickly escalated the confrontation with North Korea to a new, alarming level and were followed shortly by a new threat from North Korea to obliterate an American air base on Guam. In the hours since, the president’s advisers have sought to calm the situation, with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson assuring Americans that they “should sleep at night” without worrying about an imminent war.

June 21, 2006

But the president’s ad-libbed threat reflected an evolving and still unsettled approach to one of the most dangerous hot spots in the world as Mr. Trump and his team debate diplomatic, economic and military options.

The president’s aides are divided on North Korea, as on other issues, with national security veterans like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, on one side and Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, and his allies on the other. 

The president had been told about a Washington Post story on North Korea’s progress in miniaturizing nuclear warheads so that they could fit on top of a ballistic missile, and was in a bellicose mood, according to a person who spoke with him before he made the statement. His team assumed that he would be asked about North Korea during a scheduled media appearance tied to his opioid meeting, but Mr. Trump had not mentioned his comment during a conference call beforehand that focused on North Korea.

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump told reporters in remarks aired on television and broadcast around the globe. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”(Source: New York Times) 

 

Wednesday May 3, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 3, 2017

Donald Trump’s willingness to meet the world’s strongmen

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he’d be “honored” to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, clarifying he meant “under the right circumstances.”
 
That came just 48 hours after he invited Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte to the White House, surprising the State Department and breaking with long-held tradition. Duterte has since said he might be too busy for any visit to Washington soon. 
 
These are just the two latest signs of Trump’s openness to, or perhaps fascination with, the world’s strongmen.
 
The Trump administration has adopted a harder line with Pyongyang as tensions between the two countries have continued to escalate in recent weeks. Despite this, the President expressed admiration for how Kim Jong Un handled ascending to power at such a young age in an interview with Reuters on April 28.
 
On Monday, he said to Bloomberg News: “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it. If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.”
 
Trump appeared to offer his seal of approval for Erdogan’s ambitions to replace Turkey’s current system of parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful executive presidency in a congratulatory phone conversation shortly after the Turkish referendum.
 
Long before he took office, Trump was fawning over the Russian leader.
 
“I’ve always had a good instinct about Putin,” Trump said in December 2015 interview with Iowa radio host Conway, years before the two would meet.
 
since assuming the presidency, Trump has tweeted Putin’s criticism of Hillary Clinton and chastised her for speaking badly of him. He even went as far as defending the Russian leader to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, who called Putin a killer in an interview.
 
“There are a lot of killers,” Trump said on February 6, 2017. “Do you think our country is so innocent? Do you think our country is so innocent?” (Source: CNN) 

Friday, December 19, 2014

Friday, December 19, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, December 19, 2014

Sony Pulls The Interview After Threats

Sony Pictures Entertainment canceled the planned Christmas Day release of The Interview on Wednesday after an unknown person or group threatened to attack theaters that played the film. Sony’s decision comes after several major theater chains backed out of showing the film in light of the threats.Friday, April 5, 2013“We are deeply saddened by this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees and the American public,” Sony said in a statement. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”Monday, April 15, 2013The threats, which warned of 9/11-style attacks against theaters showing The Interview, may have come from the same people responsible for hacking Sony Pictures late last month. Thousands of Sony employees’ emails and personal data have been posted online as a result of the hack, and Sony is still reeling from its effects.

It isn’t yet clear who hacked Sony or threatened the theaters, though some analysts have pointed fingers at North Korea. Pyongyang is furious over The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about TV journalists asked to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But no clear link to North Korea has been established, and the government has denied responsibility for the hack. (Source: Time Magazine)

Sunday, December 15, 2013

I’m honoured to be named a recipient of a citation for excellence from the United Nations. Congratulations to the winners and all other finalists, especially my friend and colleague in editorial cartooning, Guy Badeaux, from Le Droit, in Ottawa.2013_winners_doc

 

Click here to see the winning cartoons. Here is the cartoon I was recognized for:

Monday, April 15, 2013

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday, April 15, 2013

Secretary of State John Kerry has called on China to do more to help resolve the North Korean missile crisis, saying the country provided the Pyongyang regime with a “lifeline.”

In an interview with NBC’s TODAY that aired on Monday, Kerry also said any deal with the rogue state would need to be structured so that Pyongyang could not later renege on its terms.

In recent days the North Koreans have readied missiles for launch and some speculated this would happen on Monday, when the nation celebrates the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.

In an interview in Tokyo before flying back to the U.S. on Monday, Kerry said that if the missiles were not fired “that would mean perhaps we’re turning a corner and there’s a possibility of moving in a better direction.”

“Everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot. And my hope is that we can move in a different direction here. China, I think, is serious about this,” he said. “They understand the instability this is creating.”

Kerry said it was “very important” for the United States to make clear to North Korea that there would be “consequences for their action” and to reaffirm its security agreements with its allies in the region.

“That done, I think it is very important to the Chinese to focus on the fact that … if they’re not prepared to put the pressure on the North — and they have the greatest ability to have an impact on the North — then this can become more destabilizing,” he said. “And that instability is not in China’s interest, certainly. It’s not in anybody’s interest in the region.”(Source: NBC News)