Trump and Pence speak at global forum in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump has slammed the Biden administration for its handling of North Korea, at an event in South Korea that included the former vice-president as guest speaker. President Mike Pence.

Several former leaders and senior officials participated virtually or in person at the weekend event in Seoul jointly sponsored by the Cambodian government and the Universal Peace Federation, an organization linked to the Korea-based Unification Church of the South, a religious group known for mass marriages. and global business and media interests.

Pence, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were among those who attended the event and spoke in person.

Trump appeared in a recorded video message that was screened at the forum on Sunday.

He alleged that a recent “return to escalation” that saw North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launch missile tests would “never have happened if I were president”.

He also urged North Korea not to take any actions that could ‘endanger’ what he described as ‘the unique opportunity we have worked so hard to create together over the past four years’. .

The North resumed testing of shorter-range weapons threatening US ally South Korea while Trump was in power in 2019. The previous year, Kim unilaterally suspended testing of nuclear explosives and ballistic missiles with intercontinental reach.

Trump met with Kim three times during his presidency. Their diplomacy never recovered from the failure of their second meeting in February 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for a major lifting of US-led sanctions in exchange for a partial surrender. of its nuclear capabilities.

North Korea kicked off 2020 with accelerated testing activity, carrying out seven rounds of missile launches in January alone.

Experts say the North could increase weapons demonstrations after its ally China finishes hosting the Winter Olympics in Beijing, as it tries to move the needle with the Biden administration, which offered open-ended talks but showed no willingness to budge on sanctions.

In his speech at the weekend meeting, Pence said deepening relations between China and Russia posed a growing threat to their democratic neighbors, according to forum organizers. He also called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

While in Seoul, Pence met with conservative South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol, as well as foreign policy advisers from Lee Jae-myung’s rival ruling party. The American politician exchanged views on North Korea, according to campaign officials on both sides.

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