NATION/WORLD
Saturday, April 15, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
N. Korean official: Ready for war if Trump wants it
PYONGYANG, North
Korea (AP) — President
Donald Trump’s tweets are
adding fuel to a “vicious
cycle” of tensions on the
Korean Peninsula, North
Korea’s vice foreign minister
told The Associated Press
in an exclusive interview
Friday. The official added
that if the U.S. shows any
sign of “reckless” military
aggression, Pyongyang is
ready to launch a pre-emptive
strike of its own.
Vice Minister Han Song
Ryol said Pyongyang has
determined the Trump admin-
istration is “more vicious and
more aggressive” than that
of Barack Obama. He added
that North Korea will keep
building up its nuclear arsenal
in “quality and quantity” and
said Pyongyang is ready to go
to war if that’s what Trump
KRT via AP
In this image made from video broadcast by North Kore-
an broadcaster KRT, soldiers take part in a parade at Kim
Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Saturday. North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in a massive parade
in the capital, Pyongyang, celebrating the birthday of his
late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
wants.
Tensions
between
Pyongyang and Washington
go back to President Harry
Truman and the 1950-53
Korean War, which ended
in an armistice, not a peace
treaty. But the heat has been
rising rapidly since Trump
took office in January.
This year’s joint war
games between the U.S.
and South Korean militaries
are the biggest so far. The
USS Carl Vinson aircraft
carrier has been diverted
back to the waters off Korea
after heading for Australia,
and U.S. satellite imagery
suggests the North could
conduct another underground
nuclear test at any time.
Pyongyang recently tested a
ballistic missile and claims
it is close to perfecting an
intercontinental
ballistic
missile and nuclear warhead
that could attack the U.S.
mainland.
Many experts believe
that at its current pace of
testing, North Korea could
reach that potentially game-
changing milestone within a
few years — under Trump’s
watch as president. Despite
reports that Washington is
considering military action
if the North goes ahead with
another nuclear test, Han did
not rule out the possibility of
a test in the near future.
“That is something that
our headquarters decides,”
he said during the 40-minute
interview in Pyongyang,
which is now gearing up for a
major holiday — and possibly
a big military parade — on
Saturday. “At a time and at a
place where the headquarters
deems necessary, it will take
place.”
The North conducted two
such tests last year alone. The
first was of what it claims to
have been a hydrogen bomb
and the second was its most
powerful ever. Expectations
are high the North may put
its newest missiles on display
during Saturday’s parade.
The annual U.S.-South
Korea military exercises
have consistently infuriated
the North, which views them
as rehearsals for an invasion.
Washington and Seoul deny
that, but reports that exercises
have included “decapitation
strikes” aimed at the North’s
leadership have fanned
Pyongyang’s anger.
Han said Trump’s tweets
have also added fuel to the
flames.
Trump posted a tweet
Tuesday in which he said the
North is “looking for trouble”
and reiterated his call for more
pressure from Beijing, North
Korea’s economic lifeline,
to clamp down on trade and
strengthen its enforcement of
U.N. sanctions to persuade
Pyongyang to denuclearize.
Cutting Trump slack: Voters forgive reversals — to a point
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — What’s wrong with
being flexible? All presidents change their
minds. He’s only human.
President Donald Trump’s voters can be a
forgiving lot — up to a point.
“He thinks too fast and then makes
decisions too fast,” says Miriam Naranjo in
Miami Lakes, Florida.
“He’s changing his mind on almost every-
thing he said,” says Bob Brown, of South
Windsor, Connecticut.
Naranjo is willing to give Trump more
time. Brown is not.
The president’s recent shifts in position
on big foreign policy issues have got his
supporters pondering: Are the reversals worth
a mere shrug of the shoulders, or are they a
cause for greater concern.
Where critics see a flip-flopper, many
Trump voters see the kind of recalibrating
that’s to be expected from any new president,
even more so for the first in history to land
in the Oval Office without any government or
military experience.
“It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on
and making sure he doesn’t stray too far
from where he campaigned,” says Christian
Ziegler, a marketing professional from Sara-
sota, Florida, who served as one of Trump’s
electors in the state. “I’m not concerned yet.”
In recent weeks, the president has gone
from labeling NATO “obsolete” to “no longer
obsolete.” He’s ordered a cruise missile
bombardment in Syria after saying during
the campaign that the U.S. should steer clear
of the place. He’s decided the Export-Import
Bank, which he once opposed, is a good thing
after all. And he’s done a U-turn on his pledge
to label China a currency manipulator. Many
of those issues were prominent applause lines
at candidate Trump’s campaign rallies.
Now, as he shifts positions, Trump says
he’s being flexible — and proud of it.
For plenty of Trump voters, that’s fine,
particularly when a situation suddenly arises
like the chemical weapons attack in Syria
that killed more than 80 people and prompted
Trump to order airstrikes.
“Once someone releases nerve gas on chil-
dren, you have to do something,” says Susan
Holly, of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
BRIEFLY
Trump admin.
declines to brand
China a currency
manipulator
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Trump
administration declined
Friday to label China a
currency manipulator despite
President Donald Trump’s
insistent pledge during the
election campaign that he
would do so as soon as he
took office.
Instead, the
administration’s first
twice-yearly currency
review singled out China
and five other countries as
needing to be monitored for
their currency practices. The
countries — China, Japan,
Germany, South Korea,
Taiwan and Switzerland —
were the same six named
in the last currency report
issued by the Obama
administration in October.
In its report to Congress,
the Treasury Department
noted that Beijing had
intervened in currency
markets for about a decade
to depress the value of its
currency, the renminbi.
Keeping the renminbi
low gave its exporters
a competitive edge by
making Chinese goods
more affordable overseas
and other nations’ products
costlier for Chinese buyers.
But reflecting the
views of most economists,
Treasury concluded that
China has recently been
intervening to do the
opposite — to keep the
renminbi from falling
against the dollar.
AP Photos
TOP LEFT: Dennis O’Flaherty is seen in Sacramento, Calif. TOP RIGHT: William
“Drew” Cato is seen in Anchorage, Alaska. BOTTOM LEFT: Christian Ziegler, 33, a
marketing professional from Sarasota, Fla. and BOTTOM RIGHT: Miriam Naranjo,
a 70-year Cuban woman who now lives in Miami Lakes. President Donald Trump’s
voters are showing they can be a forgiving lot, up to a point.
“Nobody can stand around and be black
and white,” she said. “Everybody makes
changes.”
Some prominent conservatives haven’t
hesitated to criticize Trump’s recent actions.
Columnist Ann Coulter, writing for
Breitbart News, the website once run by
White House adviser Steve Bannon, called
the president’s Syrian airstrikes an immoral
“misadventure” that “violates every promise
he ran on and could sink his presidency.”
However, nearly three months into
Trump’s presidency, many supporters say
they never really expected him to hew to all
his campaign positions anyway. Trump, a
former Democrat, was never one to attract the
labels of policy wonk or ideologue.
“I don’t think any president really knows
what they’re doing the first few months in
office,” says Jeff Baumgardner, 59, an airline
captain from Shindle, Pennsylvania. “What
they say on a campaign is always different
than what they do.”
Sure, Trump needs to deliver on some of
his promises, says Baumgardner, “but some
of them are just election banter.”
Husband and wife Larry and Eleanor
Sacilowski, from Langhorne, Pennsylvania,
don’t see Trump’s policy shifts as a problem.
“It makes him human,” says Eleanor, 70,
a receptionist.
“You never stop learning,” adds Larry, 74,
an auto parts deliveryman.
For Ziegler, 33, a Republican state commit-
teeman in Florida, Trump’s shifts are a sign
he’s getting “different information” now that
he’s president. As long as Trump holds firm on
Ziegler’s top priorities — opposing abortion
and refusing to grant amnesty to immigrants
living in the country illegally — Ziegler says
he’s OK with other policy changes.
“Let’s remember Donald Trump’s a
dealmaker, and when you’re negotiating in
business you don’t always get 100 percent of
what you want,” says Ziegler.
Naranjo, a Cuban-born Trump voter,
thinks the president’s performance has been
lackluster but there’s still time for him to turn
things around.
“We’re expecting too much too fast,” says
Naranjo, 70.
To a number of Trump voters, as long as the
president delivers on his repeal-and-replace
pledge for the health care law — far from
a sure thing — other issues are secondary.
Trump’s campaign promises to dial back U.S.
engagement overseas and put “America First”
may have roused crowds, but it’s the issues
with direct impact on their lives that could
drive them away.
William “Drew” Cato, 57, of Anchorage,
Alaska, says he voted for Trump even though
he credits the health care law enacted under
former President Barack Obama with saving
his life by helping him get drug addiction and
mental health treatment.
If Trump guts the health law and doesn’t
provide a replacement, say Cato, “I would
just have to scratch my head and go, ‘That’s a
promise. That was an all-out lie.’”
In Sacramento, 58-year-old Dennis O’Fla-
herty, who works in landscaping, is worried
about Trump’s departures from his campaign
positions. But he’s not sure what to make of it.
“Maybe he was not aware of exactly what
was going on,” says O’Flaherty, who had just
finished making a pot of split-pea soup as a
volunteer at the Veterans of Foreign Wars
post. “You don’t want to think that he misled
people intentionally, but I guess that’s a possi-
bility. ... It’s concerning.”
In Connecticut, Brown, a 65-year-old
retired municipal worker, isn’t giving Trump
the benefit of the doubt anymore.
“He’s so erratic, that’s what disappoints
me the most,” says Brown, just after watching
a minor league baseball game in Hartford.
“All these years, everyone’s had the notion
that Donald Trump was a smart guy. And to
me, he really isn’t. He may know the art of
the deal ... but as far as global knowledge. ...”
Brown finishes the thought with a shake of
his head and a rueful laugh.
Easter
Celebration Services
Easter Sunrise Service
Come worship with us in the Blue Mountains on Easter Morning!
Enjoy a wonderful complimentary breakfast buffet after the service.
Sunday • April 16, 2017 • 7 AM
At the Historic Meacham Hotel in Meacham, Oregon
Music will be provided by Lon Thornburg
Speaker will be Pastor Wayne Pickens
Service organized by Blue Mountain Christian Cowboys
For questions please call (541) 276-8540 or (541) 969-2677
Peter Rabbit Breakfast
S t A il 15 h th
Sat. April 15th th
7:30 - 10:30 AM
$5.00 for
Breakfast
5 & under
FREE
Face painting,
Easter egg
hunt, Crafts, &
Peter Rabbit
First UnitedÊMethodist Church
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Easter Day, April 16th
Sunrise Worship at the Cross on the Butte: 6:30 AM
Church Worship Services: 10:30 AM
Journey to new life!
Palm to Passion Sunday
April 9 at 10am
Maundy Thursday Supper & Tenebrae
April 13 at 6pm
Easter Celebration with Brass
April 16 at 10am
Holy Humor Sunday
April 23 at 10am
First Presbyterian Church PC(USA)
201 SW Dorion • 541-276-7681
www.pendletonpresbyterian.com
Listen on KUMA 1290 at 10am Sundays