Trump mocks missile-launching Kim Jong-un as ‘little cloud’

President Donald Trump promised South Korea ‘s president he would help solve the discord between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his southern neighbor. ‘I won’t forget the trip, and we’ll be working together, and you have a little bit of a cloud over your country, and we’re going to get that cloud solved,’ Trump told South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at a banquet Wednesday evening. That cloud, previously referred to as ‘little rocket man,’ is Kim Jong-un, the belligerent leader of North Korea.

‘A neighbor that hasn’t been as nice as they could be, and I think they will be,’ Trump continued. ‘I know Kim Jong-un very well, and I think things will work out very well.’ Trump met Kim three times during his first term, and even became the first president to enter North Korea during a 2019 meeting in the demilitarized zone along the country’s southern border. He has been adamant about striking a deal with the country to stabilize the region that has been shaken by Un’s repeated military flexing.

Despite several public offers to meet with Kim on the trip, no meeting between the two materialized, and North Korea has not responded to Trump’s many overtures. ‘It’s our last stop, so it would be pretty easy to do,’ the American told reports aboard Air Force One on Monday, adding ‘If he’d like to meet, I’m around. I got along great with Kim Jong-un.’ The next day, just before Trump was scheduled to land in South Korea, North Korean blasted sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles off of its west coast. It was the country’s second missile test in a week.

Signaling the US’s close ties with South Korea amid North Korea’s saber rattling, Trump announced that the two allied countries had struck a $350 billion investment deal while walking into the Hilton banquet room in Gyeongju. ‘We reached a deal. We did a lot of different things,’ Trump told reporters while standing next to South Korean President Lee. The two had just emerged from a two-hour meeting that included leaders from across the Indo-Pacific: Australia, New Zealand , Thailand , Vietnam and Singapore all were represented.

Trump dined with world leaders enjoying a menu that included shrimp and scallop salad, braised short ribs made of US beef on a bed of steamed rice and spinach soybean paste soup, with a gold-adorned brownie and seasonal fruits for dessert. Taking his seat next to the South Korean leader, Trump later tossed uncertainty on the deal he just announced, seemingly backtracking a bit: ‘We made our deal. Pretty much finalized, a trade deal, and we discussed some other things having to do with national security.’

It’s unclear whether the deal was actually signed or Trump was speaking loosely about the framework being agreed to, and neither the White House nor South Koreans have given further details on the pending deal. A framework deal struck between the two nations in late July would help Seoul avoid the worst of the US tariffs by agreeing to invest $350 billion into the US. Around $150 billion would go to helping US shipbuilding capacity and the other $200 billion would be cash payments.

At the dinner table the president teased how more deals are expected by the end of the year. ‘We’re over $17 trillion, probably up to $18 trillion of investment,’ he said. ‘We’re close to $18 [trillion]. I think we’re going to be $21 or $22 trillion by the time I finished my first year.’ ‘And there’s never in history, there’s never been anything like that for any country, not even close,’ Trump bragged.