It was a sound move by Donald Trump to single out the North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho in his first State of the Union address last night. In 2006, Seong-ho had hobbled his way out of what Trump rightly called a ‘depraved country’ to find freedom abroad. ‘Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those crutches as a reminder of how far you have come’, Trump declared. Seong-ho stole the show by rising to his feet and waving his old, battered crutches in the air to tumultuous applause at the United States Capitol.
Earlier in the day, however, the administration made waves with the revelation that Victor Cha, who worked on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration and is a widely admired North Korea expert, would not be named ambassador to South Korea. Cha had apparently voiced his opposition to a unilateral attack on the North and support for free trade with the South.
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