The Twisted Timeline of Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

The North Korean missile threat didn’t begin with Kim Jong Un, and U.S. attempts to counter it didn’t start with Donald Trump. But Kim’s inheritance of North Korean leadership and Trump’s election to the U.S. presidency have seen the relationship reach new levels of intensity — and now, perhaps, a chance at some kind of change. Kim’s final push to turn North Korea into a true nuclear power and Trump’s dramatic language and promises of action pushed the two countries to what could have been the brink of war. But even as the two leaders exchanged insults such as “Little Rocket Man” and “deranged dotard,” the possibility of a meeting was constantly dangled, promised, forgotten, and reinstated. In this timeline, Foreign Policy traces the course of missiles, insults, and sudden reversals that has led to this week’s historic summit in Singapore.

 

Amy Mackinnon is an editorial intern, focussing on security and defense. Originally from Scotland, she has reported extensively from across Eastern Europe. Her work has been published by CNN, Foreign Policy, Slate, and Coda Story, among others. She is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio Scotland and was a reporter on the Reveal episode, “Russia’s New Scapegoats” which won the 2018 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award. She is currently pursuing an MA in Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. (@ak_mack)

Amy Cheng is an editorial intern covering defense and security. Born and raised in Beijing, she spent the summer of 2017 interning for the New York Times on topics such as censorship regulations and Chinese investment overseas. She is a rising senior majoring in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale University, where she currently serves as the online editor of the Yale Daily News. (@Amy_23_Cheng)

Humza Jilani is an intern at Foreign Policy.