We know Ivanka is a duplicitous, self-serving, grifter. The only thing we know about Kim Jo-jong is that her brother thinks nothing of murdering family members. The real point is that the media needs to stop pandering to the reality-tv/gossip show mindset. Oh wait, isn't that just what the trumps ordered?
11
Is it really all that different? It’s just two soulless men hiding behind a feminine sign. Any way you cut it, it’s despicable.
4
Be assured there are many of us that weren't taken in by her at all. Every time I saw her, I kept thinking about the torture and privations being endured by the population of North Korea. You do have to wonder though about what choices this person has - either she sucks up to her brother, or possibly becomes another murdered member of society. I didn't find her charming - I found it surreal. I really blame the media who were in a frenzy over this person, and didn't focus enough on the regime she was representing. No one should be under any illusions as to what North Korea would mean by "re-unification" . It certainly isn't giving up the dictatorship of the Kim family. These people have one goal - preservation of the family dynasty. They will do anything to retain it - this should not be forgotten.
4
Sorry; DJT *is* KJU, just with Constitutional constraints on his Id that (to date anyway) are holding him back. Rest assured, if the US were a nation in the same sort of dire economic straits as NK, and the Constitution weren't preventing him from indulging all of his base instincts, DJT would be indistinguishable from every other vile dictator the world has ever seen.
6
This is the reality check that the MSM and commenters needed. Trump was elected fair and square in a democratic election, via the electoral college if not the popular vote, in a democratic country. Any comparisons to him or his family to NK is beyond the pail.
It was also beyond the pail that the MSM, the NYT included, thought that Kim Yo-jong upstaged VP Pence, as if they were rooting for NK over the US, that is definitely how it came across. Not a good chess move by the MSM.
I take this article as a sort of apology for that. But reading the comments, most commenters are not having any of that, their hatred for the democratically elected Trump is so strong, and so blinding.
3
Ivanka Trump is worse as she lives in a free country and could actually do some good if she decided to do so. She has choices.
She chose to line her pockets, pal around with Chinese autocrats, blindly defend her father and demonstrate appalling judgement by her backing of Flynn, Porter and many others.
NYT's love affair with this spoiled, ignorant, hypocritical socialite baffles me. She's her father in a better package. Both are rotten to the core and always will be.
10
The "Kim Yo-jong as Ivanka" story at least reassures me that North Korea and Kim Jong-un is mostly a master manipulator and media-savvy leader (far more skilled than Trump) rather than an unhinged homicidal fanatic. While he is clearly a ruthless dictator, he wouldn't be using his sister and the Olympics to gain favor with South Korea and the world if he is also on the verge of starting nuclear Armageddon. A more competent US Administration would figure out ways to counter his moves and gain traction, if not with him, at least with South Korea. Instead, we play into his game of bluster which only he can win because we think he is totally crazy. He doesn't look all that crazy to me.
The issue here, in large part, is that many U.S. journalists have been hired to appeal to the masses in exceedingly superficial ways. Those who practice this "new journalism" are hired and rewarded exactly for appealing to the most superficial and inconsequential aspects of U.S. culture--essentially it is journalism directed at "dumbing-down" the U.S. population. It is not the real kind of journalism that critically reports the news, but rather infotainment--designed to distract the masses from what is crucially important. It is just one part of a concerted effort by powerful moneyed interests to keep the masses uninformed, uneducated, and placated so they do not understand what is actually happening and how it will impact them negatively. This keeps the masses easily manipulated and ignorant of their own real interests, and allows elites to put people like DT, who has no ability to actually lead, in leadership positions.
3
I am truly disappointed in Mr. Bruni. To think that Ivanka is not as bad Kim Yo Jong is to be burying your head in the sand.
3
Oh please? Ivanka made a choice to support her dad with no worry that he might be planning to murder her if she doesn't. Though her husband and brothers might be thrown under the bus.
3
Even the passing fantasy of a softening of the brutal and grotesque stalemate in Korea is enough to remind us all of what a rotten situation this has been for the last sixty-plus years.
Funny, your feelings are quite similar to how I feel most of you guys, including the lofty New York Times, cover the Middle East. You often equate Israel's actions and those by mortal enemies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran as being on the same level . . . though one's existence (Israel's) is constantly hanging in the balance. Oh, and it happens to be a democracy. Alas, is Mr. Bruni's insightful editorial a sudden shift at your publication? It would be a nice start.
2
Analogies do not equate, they just present comparisons that parallel elements in a relative manner. They are neither flattering nor offending. They are a figure of speech, like metaphors and similes. When someone says, "you have a killer style" should we take it as something related to "murder?" Of course not! Why should the comparison of the "first sister" to the "first daughter" in terms of their influence on the source of power be taken as equating the sister to the daughter?
This is not really a necessary defense of anything or anyone and it is certainly not the same as Trump saying "... I think that our country does plenty of killing ..." as it is not an analogy, metaphor, or a simile. His statement is a direct comparison.
1
Not to mention Ms. Trump is a successful and educated individual, the other is just a puppet for her brother.
3
Both women are evil and complicit.
6
Yo-jong didn't have to do much to fool the chronically gullible. I, personally, found her over-the-top arrogance not the least bit charming. In that, however, she quite resembles Ivanka. In her competence, on the other hand, she handily beats out Ivanka.
3
An insult, to Bruni that is.
1
Mike Dence is as odious as the president himself. Yes, North Korea leaves much — as in just about everything — to be desired, but one can say the same about the administration of incompetence and incoherence we live with. So two useless fat guys pretending to be leaders of two countries depend on their most attractive relatives to make themselves appear far better than they are. But a cursory glance tells many of us that there's nothing to see here...and I do mean nothing.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
5
This column is so obviously correct that it’s a sad commentary on the state of some people’s minds that you felt the need to pen it at all. Trump is a vile person and an awful president, but let’s keep within the bounds of sanity. North Korea is absolutely nothing like this country, irrespective of our and our president’s flaws.
6
Not sure who this article is written for - the North Koreans? The South Koreans?
But it sure seems like an I need to write an article and get Trump in the headline. Ivanka and Kim Yo-Jong play the same roles - publicly enabling someone unfit for office because of familial ties and nepotism - basta!
As for "not all ugliness is created equal" maybe not, but it shouldn't be used to give any ugliness an out.
3
oh, angel98 -- get a grip. You may not like Trump but he's not in the same league as the NK dictator who is a true monster. Starving his people to death. Threatening nuclear war. Chemical and bio weapons at the ready. Get real.
8
I call not paying contractors starving people and families ... yes, both in the same league. One has 'baby sitters' and 'wet nurses' and the other does not.
3
Well said, Franky
1
Mr. Bruni, the only difference between Kim Jong-un and DJT is the United States Constitution, Judiciary/laws, and institutions is not permitting the latter to run-amok. And note that I didn't include the US Congress the formula inhibiting DJT from exhibiting full-on madness (with weekly military parades in his honor) -- the jury is still out on our Congress. But, please, make no mistake, DJT is "rotten to the core."
6
HZ -- if you think w/o the US constitution that Trump would be in the same league as Kim Jong-un -- you've been watching too much something. Or smoking way too much something.
3
I read this as well as the National review article with the same thought: both are written from the premise that the charm offensive was directed at the United States. North Korea is targeting the South- and it is working- in part because the United States lacks the strategic diplomacy necessary to navigate the situation. Escalating threats of war with the North from the US is driving the South towards talks. We are witnessing the world moving on with out us.
7
I am a great admirer and habitual reader of Frank Bruni's opinion columns, but this particular one is delusionally naive and childishly optimistic. There is not one scintilla of evidence that Ivanka Trump is a better person than Kim Yo-jong. Nor is there much evidence to support Bruni's Pollyanna optimism that the U.S.A is merely passing through a "rotten moment" rather than irreversibly rotting closer and closer to its own core.
As Mr. Bruni notes, North Korea is a police state governed by intimidation and violence. Unlike Kim Yo-jong, who constantly lives under threats of violence, Ivanka Trump has freely chosen to be immoral, grasping, deceitful, bigoted, treasonous and profoundly unAmerican.
As likely as not, if Yo-jong and Ivanka were to trade places, Ivanka would be cheering for more executions while Yo-jong would have fled from the despicable Trump family.
It is sheer folly to assume that the tyrant or oligarchs who gain power over America will voluntarily hand it back to the irresponsible citizenry that forfeited the right to self-governance. White supremacist America already is far too close to becoming a much larger and far more dangerous North Korea.
7
My heart be still. Bruni. Way to go. At least on most of this.
3
There's wishful thinking by media. They hope there's a thaw between NK and the US, SK, and Japan. It's just a temporary thing.
Well done, Frank. To the point and literally, on point. When it was announced weeks ago that North Korea would send athletes and a "diplomatic delegation" to the Winter Olympics, my eyes rolled into the back of my head with, a John McEnroe version of, "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"
From what we have seen for so long since the Little Prince of Pyongyang took power, gift-wrapped from his father, it reminded me of DJT getting a parting gift from his daddy, Fred Trump, in the form of millions of dollars. "Kid, you are standing on third base with a short dash to home plate — if you play your cards right." Then, Fred hired the reviled attorney, Roy Cohn, who worked for the evil Sen. Joe McCarthy, to coach Donald on how to avoid the moral high ground, how to maximize personal wealth at the expense of everyone else; when you don't pay contractors and subcontractors for the completed work, getting rich gets easier.
Kim Jong Un likes to publicly execute his rivals with anti-aircraft guns, turning his victims into a cloud of red lint. Donald Trump uses lies, obfuscation, his gift of narcissism on a grand scale, to destroy his opponents. He uses Twitter, the coward's favorite tool for teflon-coated deception to falsely accuse his opponents and critics of treason. Fortunately, those targets of his blather are still breathing as the Tweeter-in-Chief has moved on to his next target of rage.
Kim Jung-Un and Donald John Trump: twin sons of different mothers. What's not to like?
2
If not for the restraints of a strong Constitution, a vigorous civil society, a firewall of dissent, and a steadfast and independent media, really think Trump and minions wouldn't emulate Kim Jong-un?
Trump's contempt for an independent judiciary, his exhortation of police violence, his fawning admiration of white supremacists and the KKK, his compulsive bullying and cynical sympathy for men who beat women is thin moral differentiation from a murderous despot who inhabits a family tyranny.
Trump isn't Kim Jong-un only because American Democracy won't allow it.
And it's a measure of how far we have fallen when "Ivanka Trump of North Korea" is in fact a vile pejorative Mr. Bruni in his political confusion takes as a gracious compliment.
The house is on fire and tit for tat is the best Mr. Bruni can muster?
Maybe if Trump sent Ivanka to Syria he could trade his "Oh, Please" for a proper snicker.
4
Thank you, Frank. Nuff said!
4
The comparison fits - someone who has their position by virtue of nepotism, their riches handed to them and is (was, in Ivanka's case, she has retreated to the shadows of late) used for 'charm offensive', and who supports, upholds and enables someone who is completely unfit for office just because they are family.
1
I saw Willie Geist on Morning Joe saying something similar; the South Koreans told him they are not fooled by the magnanimous display by the brother-sister duo and told him she is the country’s propagandist and just as bad as her brother. They expect business as usual after the Olympics are over.
5
Trump would love to have the power Kim has.
4
Ivanka and Kim are very different. Kim Yo-jung has real power. Kim has an official title akin to a cabinet post and exercises public policy in the government.
1
"Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous." Good for you Frank Bruni. Fawning over anybody connected to that regime is shameful. The rest of the media's words will come back to haunt them when this short, crazy era of American history is behind us. People will continue to be tortured and starved in North Korea long after Donald Trump has left the White House. Memories of his tweets will fade, but the articles about the charming North Koreans will be etched in internet stone.
6
For real sizzle, perhaps Pence should've taken a knee.
3
You know, Frank, I'm starting to feel that there is still hope for you. Your best education here should come just from reading the first 15 or 20 comments on your article, which basically equate to a belief that there is nothing bad in the world except that which involves the Trumps. This comes from the Times'
publicly-stated (in 2016) but now well-hidden instructions to its staff that there was to be no objective reporting on Trump.
2
Would doubt she has a clothing line made in China. If she does, why is nobody wearing her stuff?
1
Oh, please. Gimme a break, Frank. I normally like your columns, but this one is the exception that shows that you, too, can fall victim to shallow thinking.
Yes, North Korea is a repressive state, but so is the America under Ivanka's father. And, to consider the context, there have always been repressive states in the Korean part of the world (both North and South, and their occupiers and neighbors), while America under Ivanka's father is trashing more than two centuries of democracy. And violence, including summary executions (sometimes of tens of thousands or more people), has been a hallmark of governance in that region for millenia, so that has to be taken into account. And North Korea and South Korea have a very important stake in common--if Ivanka's father were to push his great big nuclear button, 10 million South Koreans would be collateral deaths in addition to those in North Korea who would perish. So what we are seeing makes a lot of sense, and we should welcome the underlying message of "Dear Ivanka's father. We don't need your help. So please leave us alone to try and sort this out." Given them credit for that.
2
This was really eye opening. I was sure Trump was the bigger threat to the American people. Who declared class warfare with "tax reform", rips families apart under the guise of "immigration enforcement", promotes white nationalism and exploits racial animosities? Is it Kim? Whose troops are amassed on whose border? Who has not one or two, but an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles aimed at whose country. Thanks Frank. Those Russian bots must be getting to me. I hope now the Glorious Leader will not accuse you of treason for not applauding his State of the Union address.
2
I have the opposite opinion from Frank Bruni: Don't insult Ms Kim by calling her the Ivanka Trump of North Korea. Ms Kim rarely spoke, did not wear heavy eye makeup and sexy clothing like a prostitute, didn't plug her own beauty products, jewelry line, or dresses manufactured by North Korean companies. Ms Kim, a pretty woman, dressed conservatively and stayed on script.
She is obviously deeply respectful if not terrified of her own brother's power over her and her loved ones of life and death.
Unlike my disgust for Ivanka, I felt concern and compassion for Ms Kim: who knows if her children are held hostge in NK? She must walk on egg shells all the time. Unlike Ivanka, nothing Kim did showed a lack of empathy or unseemly egotism.
If I had been the Vice President of the United States or the VP's wife, sitting directly in front of Ms Kim at the Olympics Opening Ceremony, I would have turned around to her, introduced myself, offered my hand, and asked if she could see all right. She is a tiny woman, unlike Ivanka who is 6 feet tall and in 5 inch heels all the time. Was that a missed opportunity to connect?
In the rare photos we have in the West, Ms Kim hovers almost hidden in the background, uncomfortable. What has she seen, heard, been asked to do?
Who was responsible for the seating arrangements at the Opening Ceremony which put VP Pence and his wife directly in front of Ms Kim? Was that some sort of strange, lost opportunity for common decency? A courteous hand shake?
8
No one could argue that Kim Jong-un is anything but evil. The rhetoric that spews from Trump's mouth from time to time often mimics those of the most heinous dictators in history. Absent the checks-and-balances, and civility that still infuse most of our country and its people, who knows what a person like Trump could become, if allowed.
Mike Pence and Kim Yo-jong are both nothing more than poseurs, doing the bidding of their masters. To some, they still might be considered relevant. Realistically, they are empty shells filled with whatever goop their government manufactures.
And, especially in this country, we try to create some shallow, Twitter-like persona that fits whatever the predominant leanings are. As a nation, important concepts are wedged into 280 characters, and somehow deemed profound. Mona Lisa smile? Seriously?
Are these people truly alike? Of course, in that they are no more than empty husks of humanity trying to pretend to be significant somehow.
All three of them are phonies. And, that's being generous.
1
Thanks for expressing what I have been feeling about people sheepishly following shallow social media pronouncements seemingly without thought. We're slaves to pop culture thinking. I am strongly opposed to Trump and his administration, but I was horrified to see some news media gleefully reporting Kim Yo-jong's smug sneer at Mike Pence and describing her in glowing terms. My thought really was, "What's wrong with you people." Thanks for the reassurance that there are still people in the world capable of more analytical thought.
6
Frank Bruni:
Does the International Court of Justice certifies what nation is a "Rogue State"; or is it at the whim and pleasure of any nation condemning those that will not do what they want them to do or not to do?
Cant people make comparisons without a literal translation. Trump and Kim have similar personality attributes that affect they political style but one is constrained in his power and the other is not. The sister and daughter are both women with influence who have a pseudo power that is interesting to analyze.
The US can learn to understand the president by studying the dictator and the people around him. Kim intimidates and breaks the will of his supporters with the threat of death. How different is Trump when he turns his staff, Republican congress and business community into puddles of impotence with his nasty tongue lashings.
Comparisons to a country that all the US condemns for its cruelty helps this country perhaps see the flaws in its own leader.
2
Thank you, Mr. Bruni, for putting what we are watching into context. We are so troubled here at home with the loss of leadership at the helm, we tend to overlook the fact that this is temporary, and will right itself. North Korea, on the other hand, is what it is. Unfortunately, there is nothing temporary about it, and no hope for its people.
6
But both Ivanka and Kim Yo-jong give vacuous and boring bad names.
2
So does this mean that KJ-u will pat her on the behind, say she's sexy with a great body, say he'd like to date her, and other incestuous stuff like Donald does?.
Ivanka is a dull witted nincompoop well schooled in pop language, no deeper than a tweet. She has a mildly appealing plastic beauty married to a equally shallow dolt. Nothing more.
If she has any juice as Kim Yo-jong seems to have, we are a few pages on the calendar closer to the nuclear winter solstice.
4
Here's the real difference: Kim Yo-Jong is a serious political player while Ivanka Trump is just an empty pantsuit.
5
Are we finally over Che Guevara as the George Washington of Cuba?
9
The USA, unfortunately, has not lived up to its self-image regarding moral behavior on the world stage. Our leaders may not blatantly murder our own people within our borders, but consider the untold numbers of American casualties and "foreigners" killed by American interventions in immoral and indefensible wars around the globe since WWII. To say nothing of American corporate exploitation of the natural resources and labor forces of third world countries. Our government's brutality and immorality is practiced abroad, hidden from the view of our citizens, while Kim Jong-un's is in plain sight. We DID use the bomb, and N. Korea has not yet. Are we truly their moral superiors?
Even if the friendliness between S. and N. Korea at the Olympics is a sham, images of their potential reconciliation are powerful and hopeful, not only for them, but for a world fearful of nuclear holocaust. I am grateful to see N. Koreans humanized rather than demonized.
31
Nobody is saying that Kim or his sister should be "demonized". It isn't necessary to demonize an actual demon.
7
I'm not a supporter of Trump, but that's a very different matter from comparing the US to North Korea . Have you ever read a book by someone who has escaped from North Korea? If not, you can't imagine what it's like there. Start with mass starvation, labor camps, and executions of those opposed to the regime. Many North Koreans have risked their lives and those of their families trying to get out. Yes, the US has its faults, but we are a country that people want to emigrate to, not flee. Bruni's article is a good one but it understates just how evil the North Korean regime is.
1
Looking at the comments in this section shows me something I have heard but never believed. Those on the progressive side really do dislike the United States. They can say, "No, it is the person," but you'd see similar no matter who was in charge. Thankfully, Bruni is far more rational. The idea of North Korea and the US being on any kind of similar plane is laughable. Maybe these commenters like that Kim had his generals watch a fellow general be executed by anti-aircraft guns tearing him apart.
7
Perhaps the false hype was meant to keep her from meeting the same fate as her late half sibling. Was charm an Olympic event?
3
Frank, Your final comment was absolutely correct. " America is in a rotten moment, North Korea is rotten to the core">
My question is...how do we prevent America from sinking further from this rotten moment?
1
At age 74, just when I think I've seen and heard it all, I get yet another surprise from the readers of the NYTimes. Comparing Kim Jong-unI with Donald Trump? Ivanka with his sister? Do NYTimes readers truly believe that Trump has gangs who regularly rout people out of their beds in the middle of the night, torture and assassinate them?
So you don't like Trump. You hate that he beat Hillary. Get a grip, folks - we've all at one time or another not liked who was elected, but we've NEVER before demonized any sitting President the way Trump has been. The Trump administration may not be what you would like but it's not torturing it's political opponents.
When we cannot discern the difference between something we don't like and something that is truly evil, then we're in big trouble as a country. As for Mike Pence - just what games were the Olympic committee playing to seat Kim Yo-jong right behind him. And she was higher than he was - looking down on him. What was he supposed to do - turn around and chat with her? The man was put in an untenable situation and handled it the best one could under the circumstances.
I really don't understand why the Olympics appears to be aligning itself with the "charm offensive" of North Korea. What the heck is going on there?
Please, readers - stop and listen to yourselves. If you want Trump for a second term, just continue to make ridiculous statements such as you have here. You are guaranteeing his re-election.
10
Okay, Trump has some catching up to do, but he is working on it. Trump is seeking the ability to directly fire anyone serving the government, a batch of mini-nukes with which to terrorize the world, and a grand military parade. If he gets what he wants, he will be close enough to parity with his rival, Kim Jong Un, to turn America into a rogue state comparable to North Korea.
As for Ivanka (aka, Trump's "real wife"), she is as compromised and controlled by Trump as Kim's sister is by the North Korean dictator. That is why she is set to take the fall for the dirty real estate deals she is credited with having arranged and supervised -- something she would not have done were it not for daddy setting her up and insisting that she carry out the deeds. Kim's sibling is a similarly subservient pawn.
2
So where do you start to diffuse the political conflict. Here at the Olympics? Why not. Do you really think Kim will step down. If I lived 60 miles from someone holding the trigger to blow up my world, I would explore every opening. If it doesn't work, then OK, but let us not be jerks. I gave Trump the benefit when the results were in, but that lasted about 10 minutes until he started appointing an unqualified cabinet composed of his elitist billionaires, but even I gave it a chance. Why is Pence such a jerk and not take the opening given him to see where it leads. I guess he has to be the tough guy and live by "my way or the highway". Why doesn't Pence move to Soul and see if that changes his attitude.
1
Being compared to Ivanka is hardly a compliment!
It seems that the author of this piece has imbibed a lot of Trump propaganda.
3
Better certainly that North Korea is trying a charm offensive rather than a military offensive when most of the world's nations are in South Korea. And maybe it will be best to loosen the sanctions on North Korea If it continues to play nice.
But President Moon is no fool. He knows that "Leader" Kim is not going to give up power in a peaceful reunification. North Korea seems set to remain a trouble spot for at least another generation.
Given that, is it so bad to let people fawn over the Ivanka of North Korea?
1
No Frank.
Ivanka knows more and better. Proportionally my man.
Here, Ivanka will cheer as our poorest transition to "Harvest Baskets".
It seems America and many Americans continue to be in a state of denial. While Kim remains an obvious and outwardly multi-generational despot who with his army and nukes who will do anything to remain in power, behind the scenes and in a gradual and rather sleazy manner, Trump is attacking, dismantling and turning off those long standing institutions created by the constitution to provide checks and balances to both business and government. One not has to be regularly reminded of the people he is appointing as heads of these departments whose job is to ultimately make them so weak and inefficient they will become irrelevant. The ethics department head resigned in disgust and the committee is now virtually non-existent. The Supreme Court and others have been stocked with judges who have little use for social justice. It is all death by a thousand cuts to the American democracy. Political/ideological divisions within the country are at an all-time high and all this just in the first year of this administration. If democrats took over tomorrow it would still take years to undo the damage(if it could be done at all).
Many Americans are still naive enough to think that just because they "temporarily" might have a few more dollars in their paycheck, they look upon this government favorably while ignoring everything else and just might elect them again! Wake up America, to think that ultimately, "everything will be OK", think again.
3
Bruni,
For the first time I am impressed with your writing. Excellent.
Keep ot up.
1
Mr Frank Bruni when you try to dismiss that young woman Kim Yo-jong moves as a diplomat searching for some peace process in the Korean Peninsula you don't realize that the term 'rogue state' can suddenly be applied to your own country from the side point of many, too many observers. You don't realize the disastrous wars U.S. is promoting and sustaining around the world creating more destabilization than ever not only in the Middle East but also potentially in Asia.
1
Don't be ridiculous? Donald Trump is a lot more like Kim Jong un than he is like Angela Merkel, you should pay mare attention. Ivanka is an enigma, where is she on the White house rape culture and her fathers lack of empathy for the abused women of his staff? She is where she has always been, no where. At least Kim Yo-jung is making an effort.
2
Is America not also a rogue state? If you look at the world today, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya -- no other country has caused by its hubris and vanity such suffering and chaos. Today's North Korea is a creation of the Korean War, in which America played the leading role. Do you worry more about what Kim Jongun will do, or about what US President will do? Kim is a ghastly leader, but he has every intention of dying in his bed: he is not suicidal. Donald Trump is another matter. And who elected him? The people of the United States. What a shining city on the hill!
2
When the President of the Rogue States of America failed to unequivocally reaffirm Article 5 last year, the collective gasp from NATO was deafening. Who was going to confront the Bear and maintain the Eastern Front, if not the Rogue States?
When countries around the world refuse to accept American guns and butter, then they can criticize. Until then, they are complicit enablers, sycophants and streetwalkers.
Which doesn't refute your basic premise.
1
Maraval, for all his bluster, Donald Trump is a pretty conventional leader who seems too to have every intention of dying in his bed. You can't blame him for the fiascos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya or elsewhere. If America is a rogue state, it's not Donald Trump's doing.
As for North Korea, you forget your history. Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945. When Japan was defeated in World War II, the Soviet Union occupied the northern half of Korea and the United States the southern half. All the death and destruction of the Korean War left that basic division unchanged.
Blame the Soviets and China for what North Korea is today, not the United States. We get credit for preserving South Korea's freedom.
Where things go in Korea depends on one man -- Kim Jong Un. For now it looks like he has chosen to engage with the south. That may well change, as the man is mercurial. But as you say, he is not suicidal so it is doubtful that he will use the nuclear weapons he has created. At least there is that.
4
I see your point. However comparing Trump to the worst does not give solace to those affected by his policies.
Please do not call Mr.Otto Warmbier “expired meat”. You don’t mean to be disrespectful but he was a promising young man with a future that was snuffed and a son very much loved by his family. His family and friends are still grieving. We should be considerate.
You are absolutely right. And IT is going to the Olympics for a free trip on the american dime, nothing more.
It still would have been smart..and Christian..for His Righteousness Pence and Mother to smile and shake her hand.
2
Mr. Bruni, Thank you for yet another brilliant article. Your last sentence says it all: a rotten moment vs. rotten to the core.
1
Bruni - "North Korea is a rogue state run by a homicidal fanatic, Kim Jong-un, who gleefully threatens to nuke other countries"
Why read past this line? It is clear that Bruni has no balance with respect to North Korea.
He sounds like he is applying for membership in some "America Right or Wrong" organization by shouting his biases. He sounds childish.
Why does the times publish articles by partisans like this?
It is important that Americans understand the situation in Korea - north and south. If the US be part of the solution, it cannot adopt this negotiating position.
The US is rapidly removing itself as an impartial arbiter between opposing sides.
In short, it is becoming part of the problem, not part of the solution - in the Middle East, in Korea, in Central America.
1
I sincerely hope America is just in a rotten moment. But when someone keeps an appointment with ICE and is whisked away for immediate deportation----that is really really rotten.
When, under Hitler, did Germany become rotten to the core? Or was that just a rotten moment for Germany?
1
"But there can be no mistake: America is in a rotten moment."
I believe the jury is still out on that supposition until we find out if our democracy will recover from the 50 year Southern strategy binge the republican party has had US on.
Comparing dictators to one another seems to end up with degrees of awful; is Kim Jong-un as bad as Pol Pot? Was Pol Pot as bad as Mao? Was Mao as bad as Stalin? Was Stalin as bad as Hitler?
Is Putin as bad as Papa Doc Duvalier?
And where does a wanna be dictator like t rump fit in?
Given his seemingly endless supply of narcissism and insecurities were he given the endless power of a Putin could he be capable of being as murderous and evil as any or all of these predecessors?
I hope we don't have to find out.
1
Yes, the media was hopelessly gullible: Amazing what a pretty face can accomplish! At the same time, there is, within their respective spheres, a strong parallel between Kim Yo-jong and Ivanka Trump. They serve their leaders in similar fashion.
1
I too was jarred by the comparison of Kim Jo-jong to Ivanka, although I'm contemptuous of Ivanka's unearned pseudo-prominence. Kim Jo-jong's gaze was as cold as the edge of a blade. I actually thought, "She has the eyes of a killer." I have never seen a more frightening caricature of a woman.
1
I'm sure Kim Yo-jong would like to remain alive. That's likely her whole motivation and I really can't criticize her for it.
Ivanka wants to sell shoes.
4
Really well said, Frank. Spot on.
1
You are right, Frank, "America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core." You forgot two things though. First, our Kim Jong-un wanna be in the WH is taking us down the same rotten path like NK unless he is stopped. Secondly, Kim Jong-un inherited what he has; Trump initiated his rotten ways on his own and in the process bringing our country down with him. Thus, Trump's crimes are far more serious and threatening to us.
1
Well, well, well, Frank Bruni found his spine and discovered a government more despicable than the Trump Administration. Perhaps he can direct more of his diatribes toward the REAL enemies of freedom and liberty, and not toward the many imagined goblins in his head.
After reading this essay I concluded that Kim Yo-jong and Ivanka are indeed very much alike, they both provide cover for despots.
2
I thought that Trump told Bill O'Reilly - not Joe Scarborough - that our country does plenty of killing. This is Trump's way of diverting attention away from Putin murders.
There are plenty of good people in North Korea's rotten core. They're just prisoners of a dictatorship. Guess which way we're going? Guess who is helping? The comparison of Ivanka to Ms. Un is spot on. If you don't see it you need to look harder.
For once I totally agree with Frank. The Fetishization of Kim Yo Jong by the frantic coastal media was an insult to these reporters' teachers and parents. This woman may very well have been the one to machine-gun a few families for all we know.
The media feels very safe in hating the American Vice-President because he wouldn't fit in with the West Hollywood culture, but the majority of Americans who buy newspapers think he's the best Veep in a long time.
Finally we are ratified in hoping to see Frank's moral side. Comparing the results-free Nork tyrant's sister with the most emblematic young mother in the media eye this year, possibly future president Ivanka marks the media editors as bordering on hysteria.
1
Excellent and on point article - on both the Trump and DPRK analysis and we should never be duped again by the fluff rather than the substance (to do so will simply generate another Trumpian failure)
Having said the above we should never forget that very often getting things done whilst holding your nose against the stench is the only route forward - consider the peace accord in ireland with the PIRA and the UK Government.
The question should always be do we care about trivial like a charm offensive if it has even the smallest chance of leading to a safer world and a contained lunatic in Kim
Thank you Mr. Brunei. I thought it very strange that media outlets would be praising the Minister of Propaganda of North Korea. What did they think her function was?
1
Kim serves the Communist regime as its “Deputy Director of Agitation and Propaganda.” Of course she's to be fawned over.
2
Frank - please remind me again, which is the rogue state?
The mainstream media did it with Hugo Chavez for years. They did it with Fidel Castro for decades. Such suckers. Seems like Frank has a firmer grip on reality.
2
Well said, Frank Bruni. Let us not forget it was North Korea who sent our own Otto Warmbier back to us in tatters. Americans need to realize that this young man was our child. And no pretty sister in glad-rags at a ceremony can cover for murderous intent.
36
And I am sure that all those mothers and fathers who lost innocent children to inadvertent bombs dropped on Afghanistan by the US, felt exactly the same as Otto Warmbier's parents. They didn't realize that they were just collateral damage. After all, Americans had God on their side.
3
Oh Diane, you are so naive; it's hard to believe you read the Times. Frank doesn't like the comparison but I think they are equivalent in their complicity with evil. REF makes an important point and I hope you will take it to heart.
1
No aggression is God-endorsed. It is propelled by lex talionis - an eye for an eye. America’s war against “terrorists abroad” (“so they would not attack the homeland”) was an abomination, as are all wars. War is about hatred and is unending in principle. But there is no justification for the suffering of innocents because maniacal egos go unchecked.
I was surprised how well this charm offensive played out. Usually, North Korean propaganda is heavy handed, clumsy, and quite often ridiculous. But I also think that even North Korea did not expect this farce to work so well for them - hell, they even got South Korea to pay their expenses for them. I expect this love-fest to last for about two weeks after the Olympics end - but in the meantime North Korea is being showered with roses and praise by the fawning media - and not just US media - Some South Korean media has been even worse.
1
Someone should have politely asked MS. Kim, within media earshot of course, how many other of her fellow countrymen/women had followed her to the Olympics, with exception to the athletes, cheerleaders and security thugs 'protecting' them to make sure they return home to their families who are held hostage in the interim?
4
Could anybody remind me which one of the two is the rogue and why?
What do we want from North Korea? Rather than being perpetually outraged, shouldn't we be glad that North Korea is making peaceful overtures towards the South? Hasn't this already reduced the risk of war?
10
So much hate in this article and comments, goes to show that education does not equal intelligence. I agree with one comment "America is in a rotten moment". But it's not because of Trump, the Democrats or the Republicans, it's the hate that has blinded the people. God help us.
Thank you for writing this. Both sides tend to go off the deep end and comparing Trump and co to Kim Jong Un is not a good thing.
And it's precisely why being "rotten to the core" is more susceptible to evolution's better adaptability-to-change option quashing survival-of-the-fittest bents currently demonstrated by N.Korea which marks Kim Yo-jong as the far greater Mikhail Gorbachev-like influence to Ivanka Trump's nothing-to-lose/high-saddled Ronnie Reaganisms. If but on a per capita basis alone, the returns on the former far outweigh the so-called Populism that couldn't even win the popular vote. And like Reagan, the latter will only be visiting the graves of Nazi S.S.Officers in no time.
The US is probably better than North Korea. We can feel proud of ourselves for that.
2
The antics of our strongman manque and his family with respect
to the North Korean strongman and his family may seem bizarre.
But I've been pondering the significance of the Korean War off
and on since Mr. Bruni was about, oh, three years old. I'd be
willing to bet him that this weird dance is the beginning of
the end of that war -- and thus of the Cold War in the Pacific.
(Remember that the end of the Cold War in Europe was heralded
by the dramatic breach of the Berlin Wall.)
2
Perhaps she is the Ivanka Trump of North Korea if by that you mean secured her position solely because of nepotism.
1
NK is trying to jump on SK's Olympic bandwagon, and the media is allowing them to do it. The poor SK women's hockey team, forced to play with the enemy for publicity reasons. IGNORE NK!
4
"She’s willfully delusional, totally complicit and compiling one hell of an Instagram feed, which is what she’s ultimately all about."
Sigh. And so is the American electorate. No one forced us to create this charade of a government. We did it all by ourselves.
8
So, Frank -- do you see it as part of your job to help Trump and the GOP keep alive the enmity between the US and NI}K? They're obviously desperate to do so as they ask American taxpayers for gobs of money to shovel at the Pentagon. Okay, Kim's awful and his sister probably is too -- but maybe a little positive energy beamed their way will bring out their better angels. It's worth a try -- since nuking their country will hurt a lot of innocent people.
As for Ivanka? Please. Any time she can get her name in print that's good for her. She's a nothing, a nobody, a person who makes crappy clothes in Chinese sweatshops then talks about women's empowerment here at home. Don't feel bad for her in any way.
9
"Not all ugliness is the same." The media engaged in fake equivalency in comparing Trump's patent unfitness to be president to Hilliary Clinton's missteps in the 2016 race. It was like comparing apples to pigs.
1
Hatred is alive and well in these comments I see. Trump can be an inarticulate buffoon at times but he is trying to improve the country he inherited from Obama and is making some progress. There is no comparison whatsoever with Trump and North Korea's murderous dictator. I find it childish and malignant to promote such an idea.
4
Don't blur the difference between a rogue state and North Korea! Everything the small Asian state has done, the U.S. has done many times over, including menacing the world with nuclear weapons, and has practiced slavery and genocide of its native population as well, which Kim Jong-un has not been accused of.
North Korea may be a tyranny, as are a number of staunch American allies, like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, but why we are obsessed with picking a quarrel with this little country is beyond me. Ignore their puny threats, and get on with cleaning up our own act.
8
After reading the article I almost believed the US is the Heaven on Earth and its people is all angels. Such content carries the typical characteristics from the US mainstream media: parochial and Manichean. And useless to note who is 'the good side' in this Manichean approach.
4
Fair enough, Frank. But as to the women, Kim Yo-jong does it because she has no choice. Ivanka is a millionaire in a free country and legitimizes her disgusting father by free choice.
That too is an important distinction.
15
Pence had the opportunity to be the bigger man in the diplomatic arena by keeping his justified mistrust of North Korea to himself and stand up for the arrival of the home team. Instead, he possibly forgot he was representing the United States, let his personal feelings get in the way, and ended up handing North Korea a small diplomatic victory.
7
'America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core". Mr. Bruni, if Trump is in power as long as the current Korean family, I fear that people will then refer to the USA as rotten to the core. Under Trump we are rapidly spiraling downward in terms of human rights.
8
Glad to see the Secretary of Propaganda and Agitation is getting accurate reporting finally here in the US. You would have though that she was Mother Teresa from the fawning press coverage.
3
Great analysis. The intersection of journalism, social media, and popular culture produces this sort of shallow "reporting" that suggests Kim Yo-jong's mere presence has great meaning. Not much of a PR offensive from the world's weirdest, murderous regime. In the end, nothing can paper over the daily crimes that define that gulag of a country. The Ivanka Trump comparison is just lazy thinking, even if it is amusing in a juvenile way.
2
I don’t disagree Frank but it’s a distinction with an increasingly smaller difference.
4
I see your point about the foolishness of coverage of the NK olympic dimplomacy, but you go to far separating NK based on rogue state status. We're doing vastly more killing in the world and most of the world would prefer we were reigned in. We use our clout to undermine international law and norms every day. And will kill a lot, way more than normal, way more than most nations, and all without any apparent goal. We kill when it doesn't even matter, just going through the motions for some vague notion of pride. Poll normal people in most countries in the world and they are far more upset with USA interference in the world, and for good reason.
10
While I do not think the media, the administration and the opinion leaders of the US have a substantial understanding of the North Korean government, its aspirations, goals, ambitions, its threat to the US, I also do not think an article like this imparts any wisdom or understanding that would assist a less than knowledgeable reader like myself. Badly written with an overdose of ad hominem attacks, infantile phrases ("that suggestion is nuts") it completely ignores the fact that for 65 five years a tiny, poor but literate and politically skilled country, with half the population of California, has been in the cross hairs of the United States, the mightiest super power the world has ever seen. Also ignored is the hundreds of military interventions executed by our country as it gallops around the globe lobbing missiles here, drones there and, as it did in the senseless ten year wars waged against Vietnam, Iraq and Libya and the longest war in US history against Afghanistan. murdering millions of innocent civilians in the process. We have militarized our foreign policy, an unintended admission of our general diplomatic and policy making ineptitude at the top, not just in this administration but in most of the administrations going back to President Truman. This has never been better illustrated than how Kim Yo-jong so easily out maneuvered the under informed, intellectually adolescent, ideologically blind and badly briefed
Mike Pence by simply smiling.
6
Charm offensive? She was charming, and it was offensive.
2
“America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core.”
Look at how much rottenness the White House and GOP have effected in a year. It won’t be too long before they burrow to the core.
9
Frank Bruni, can you say "Trump White House is rotten to the core."?
"on something troubling and important: a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle. Kim Yo-jong got points for being a fascinating distraction. That’s a role that Trump has long played.
But there can be no mistake: America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
1
True, Kim Jong-Un has people executed in
public. Saudi Arabia does the same. We have
very good relations with Saudis. Mr Trump's
sword dance is memorable and so was Mr Obama's
rush to Saudi Arabia canceling his visit to Taj Mahal
upon learning of the death of King Abdullah.
5
Liking Trump’s daughter with Kim’s sister is sad and insulting to the U.S. I would never expect anyone making such a comparison with any member of the family of any President by the main stream media before. It reflects a real contemptuous attitude towards Trump for his sad and mortifying behavior as President. Instead of straightening up his act, I expect he will double down on the boorishness.
1
Plz Frank, get with it. The trump presidency looks a lot like North Korea? Two imbeciles who do nothing but decimate their people, Trump's with trillions more in debt. Kim, who knows?
Talk is cheap, trump idea of war with NK is unimaginable in loss and death from nuclear weapons thrown around to prove who got the bigger button!
4
Perhaps if NBC didn’t try to win the gold for endless inane commentary and commercials, the Olympic events might have distracted us from the contestants on the sidelines.
4
Well said and important to understand if we want to change things here.
1
Well, there's a reason we're reading this. Charm offensives are working. It's sort of fascinating that these monstrous, repulsive men have appealing female relatives. Wives don't count; wives need to stand on their own merits (Michelle Obama) or fall due to their own lack of charm (Hillary Clinton).
1
Ivanka Trump is the Kim Yo-jong of the US. She attempts to soften the image of dotard Donald, much like Kim Yo-jong is attempting to soften the image of the other dictator. Trump is not Kim Jong-un, yet. And not through want of trying. Bruni's condescension towards the rest of us is typical of left-wingers - only he can decide the limits of our outrage.
3
yes it was media, your ilk, who linked the two, but hardly "straight-faced," rather with a collective countenance twisted in a rictus of rage, hate, and, of course, guilt...after all, we have trump because y'all and the demos took him too lightly until it was too late.
of course trump is not kim but, alas, we are both "nuts" and "ridiculous"...our outrage is directed at trump personally, not at "what's going on" (was before and will be after he's gone).
but for all the promise of an extended hand, today's effort is only another slap...first, the litany of ms trump's offenses, "trying to tell the world that a sexist really wants to empower women, that a racist really cares about equal opportunity and that a narcissistic plutocrat..." etc., is the same old derision trope and she is summarily maligned, "willfully delusional, totally complicit and compiling one hell of an Instagram feed, which is what she’s ultimately all about," as you opine with no citation...yet for ms kim you, more professional than petty, do cite real stuff, "airbrushing a dictator who authorizes public executions...diverting attention from his roles in the murders of his half brother, who was smeared with a fatal toxin while walking through an airport, and of many senior government officials, slaughtered in grotesque ways."
david french is right, "hatred of President Trump was (is!) so blinding..." that, as he makes "goo-goo eyes" at putin..." obama's "after i'm elected..." nuzzle gets a pass.
sad.
1
The pose of seeking amity is as shameful as condemning those who criticize the president as traitors. Never in the history of this country have we had a mafia family in the White House. Never has treasonous behavior been winked at by those in the congress, but, for some time, the Republican party has obviously been placing party over country, but with an obvious enemy of the state in the Oval Office it seems that they now are gleefully accepting his treason country be damned.
4
Outcharming the dour Mike Pence is not an accomplishment.
9
It is hard but necessary to be aware of context.The North Korean regime may be despicable but it is dynastic in origin and not a democratically elected leadership.Trump was elected and continues to be supported by millions of Americans.North Koreans are having horrible things done to them.Americans are doing horrible things to themselves.No one should argue that both "regimes" are equally bad but it is important to remember that in a democracy people get the government they deserve.It is conceivable that once the North Korean regime is toppled it will follow a model similar to that in the South.What next here in the US?
2
At least Kim Yo-jong appears intelligent.
3
Mr. Bruni, isn't getting near time for you to retire? Your articles are still pathetic attempts at normalizing the dismal failure of anything Trump and his inept comrades encounter.
Write an article about puppies. And try not to screw it up.
1
Wow! Mr. Bruni has really come off the rails! North Korea is America's archenemy? What real damage has North Korea done to us beyond ridiculous threats? Compare that with the real damage Russia has done to America and elsewhere!
Mr. Bruni, as of the past year comparing America to a rogue state is comparing apples to apples. Have you not been reading the news? I agree North Korea is merely playing up to the world and using the Olympics as a giant PR stunt. But Republicans are cozying up with the totalitarian dictators of the world and effectively steering our once great ship into a massive iceberg. Given that, I would say Republicans are America's archenemies.
As for Kim Yo-jong being North Korea's Ivanka, it is difficult to say if she is as unethical and clueless as Ivanka. But why the hell are you talking about Kim-yo-jong and Ivanka Trump anyway? This is how the real issues of our nation become confused in the media.
What a wasteful piece of writing.
3
Ask the families of 50000 dead starting less than 5 yrs after WWII ended.
5
Ooops. For a minute I thought you were talking about hundreds of thousand innocent Japanese after the US dropped two bombs on them. My bad.
2
Mr Bruni,
Why are you wasting such a valuable space in NYT on such news. Not worth it. Who cares about these tabloid news. I am only surprised that Trump did not twit that his daughter is more beautiful than Kim’s sister. He likes those things.
5
I would bet that this sister of Kim is a thousand times more intelligent than this Ivanka Trump! I mean look at what her and Marco conjured up for maternity leave for women! Seriously Ivanka? You are a disgrace to the country and we all know the reason you are a part of this gong show administration.
5
"Don’t blur the difference between a rogue state and America."
Bruni must be writing satire, or he has lost his mind.
2
Modern day Michael Corleones...both of them...trying to put legitimate faces on very ugly crime families...
4
Oh tich tich. What's so different? Trump is cut of the same cloth as Kim Chee Jong. They are both poseurs, they are both self promoters, they are both ego maniacs. It's just the circumstances that are different. Kim is trying to get to the world chess board, Trump seems to want to withdraw from it. Kim is probably better at what he does than Trump is. But this: The damage Trump is doing to his own country is certainly more than the damage Kim is doing to his.
Ivanka? Bruni, you've misfired. False equivalences? Recast the ratio: Ivanka is to the USA, as Kim Yo is to North Korea. The concept of Kim Yo as North Korea's Ivanka is not the same as saying they are equivalent.
Eva Braun was to Adolf as Eleanor was to Franklin, does not compare Eva to Eleanor, nor Hitler to Roosevelt. Bruni, you need to go back to school, and take a course in logic.
4
The author is naive to suggest "it can't happen here". It can and it is. Wake up!
5
Another column that reminds me that I subscribed to the NYT to read Frank Bruni.
3
All you Trump haters ! You should all be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves !
2
disgusting moral relativism...and kinda racist too.
"...America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
So, mutatis mutandis, both, Kim Jong-un and Ivanka stand tall in the world defending the indefensible.
1
I suppose it would be more accurate to say that Ivanka is America's wannabe Kim Yo-jong.
1
Trump might very well order public executions if he could get away with it.
He's already said he would like to those he would like to put bad hombres in Guantanamo and torturing them.
2
If Trump's venality and stupidity--his evil, in short--produce a military conflagration, the moral distinctions you go on about will seem academic, at best.
2
Trump is awful and an existential threat -- from his recklessness about nuclear war to his criminal dismantling of climate protections. But he isn't Kim. He isn't Hitler. And when the left uses those metaphors it cheapens our discourse and undercuts moral authority it deserves to have and keep.
3
Excellent. thank you
1
Frank, you seem to be the only semi-sane person at NYT. Thank you and congratulations!
4
Correction:
America is in a rotten administration that may last 8 years, and will leave our country with 100 new Trumpian judges determined to subvert justice to the shariah GOP that will continue to rot the core of our country - and yes, North Korea is already rotten to the core.
2
The normalization of fascism in America marches on. What
Trump has done and is doing really isn't that bad. It's just "a rotten moment." This should be an editorial on Fox News, not The New York Times.
5
Kim Yo-jong is a privileged young woman who is a sister of a head of state. She dresses modestly and appears to be well-fed. She is hardly representative of a nation with millions of peasants who are poorly dressed and scantily-fed.
Ivanka is the privileged daughter of a head of state and billionaire, and wife of another billionaire. She dresses extravagantly in outfits and jewels that cost more than the average American worker makes in a year. She is hardly representative of a nation with millions of people living below the poverty line and lacking health care insurance.
See the difference?
6
OMG. Mr. Bruni is about to come under attack by the cray cray left for daring to defend Ivanka Trump. Good job Mr. Bruni. It is nice to see there is at least one liberal capable of a lucid moment when it comes to drawing the line against hatred of all things Trump. The haters will now hate on you. Buck up. Be brave.
2
It's advertising and advertising is perception. At that level, there's no difference between Ivanka or Yo-jong or the spokesmodel who sells you a telephone. And the Olympics has long been a stage for this kind of maneuvering. Just consider how the Nazi's packaged themselves in '36.
1
FRANK, take off your rose-colored glasses. Ivanka would put YOU in a gulag here if she could. Don’t doubt it. You are playing with fire here. Nepotism? We got it. Using sweat shops to enrich herself - Ivanka’s doing it. Hateful, cruel, unfeeling, destroying families, murdering poor people, risking world peace, not caring about nuclear war victims - Ivanka or Kim? Both. Frank, you are being sorely deluded by normalizing the viciousness of the entire Trump family. Calling the Kim sister “like Ivanka” is an insult to the Kim sister. She’s the family nasty Ivanka aspires to be.
4
Fake out headline with predictable Trump dump content within. Let me say this about the Trump reign, to quote Michelle Obama from another galaxy far far away at this point, “I have never been prouder to be an American.” Amen. Forever-Trumper.
1
Looking at the photo with your article - why does the so called robust and vigorous Kim Jong-un need to be propped up by his sisters and an older member of the delegation?
Bone Spurs is not Kim only because we have checks and balances. Repubs are ending those checks and beginning to let him get away with anything. Bone Spurs bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support. He's right. Repubs support the cult of personality, which resembles that surrounding Kim.
3
Well done, sir, well done. I especially enjoyed your juxtaposition of Kim’s sister to Trumps daughter. Both are narcissistic sycophants, with the only difference being their fashion sense.
1
Frank,
Calm down and carry on. You are making mountains out of mole hills. I agree with everythng you said in this piece. But your worst restauarant review was more important than this. Kim's sister? Who cares?
We don't need to be reminded of how horrific Kim is. And we all know that everyone around him are just terrified puppets.
Pence's performance as a pouty kid would have merited a whole article. I hear that Jesus speaks directly to him. Was it Jesus or The Predator in Chief who guided his pathetic behavior in Korea?
3
Yesterday the intelligence chiefs disputed the White House version of events when testifying before Congress . All said that Russians did interfere in our last election and the FBI chief disputed the White House timeline regarding the termination of White House aide Porter . That would be impossible in North Korea . Of course we are not the same , much to the chagrin of Donald Trump .
2
I wouldn't be too smug if I were you Frank. If "The Tweetster" gets his way, just like Kim, with his Republican enablers standing behind him on the platorm, they will, on cue, all start clapping in unison as the soldiers, missiles and tanks roll by in their salute to "The Dear Leader", err, I meant to say President Trump.
2
You think America is in a rotten moment Frank? Maybe in the disconnected halls of NYT, but out here in the real world America seems to be in pretty good shape , with all the leading economic indicators up considerably since the election. Maybe you should step out into America Frank, before making such sweeping pronouncements
2
Thanks, Mr. Bruni, for this call to reason. Even though the Trump family continuously evoke the semiotics of Hitler in an attempt to establish their family dictatorship; they haven't gotten us there yet. So why compare?
Kim Yo-jong's smile is really a deadly tight-lipped smirk.
2
Yes, Frank, but who are you arguing with here? Just because your brothers and sisters in the newsmedia decide to make a story out of Kim Jong Un's sister doesn't mean that anyone seriously equates the two countries, or their leaders. This is simply more Bruni hyperventilation. Weak tea, Frank.
2
You seem to forget that we almost destroyed North Korea and are threatening to do it again. I suspect that Kim Jo-Jong is far more intelligent than Ivanka.
3
The point is that equivocacy is a deeplu un-jouranlistic quip.
Kim is disarming indeed.
But she is an accomplice to thousands of grisly murders.
I hope that South Korea’s President declines her invitation to visit.
But, Kim is living proof that real evil can exist in an attractive, diplomatic woman who knows how to perform.
2
Good for you, Frank. Was hoping at least one anti-Trump columnist would be able to make this rather obvious distinction. From the rather predictable comments posted below, yours is not a universal observation.
3
"Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un, the United States is nothing like North Korea and to come anywhere near that suggestion is nuts. Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous." Great column and great writing. Awful as Trump is, the left loses credibility when it engages in hyperbole and false equations.
3
People like Bruni need to wipe the self righteous smirk off their faces. When it comes down to facts the USA has killed far more civilians than North Korea since the end of WW2. So we are not just having a bad Trump moment. Nepotism has been rampant in the USA just as much as it is in Korea. People of color are being killed and imprisoned in the USA without cause just as innocents are in Korea. Racism is rampant in the USA just as elitism is in Korea. We fool ourselves into believing that the veneer of democracy and constitutional rights gives us fool proof protection from the excesses of the State.
3
There is no moral equivalency between what the U.S. has done that is wrong and the behavior of regime’s like Kim’s.
3
Kind of a my dictator is not as mean as your dictator argument.
2
Does not look that America is in a rotten "moment." Not sure it will recover from what it has become. It is destroying the post War World II order it helped to established. It is led by an authoritarian maniac who promotes racist and xenophobic policies and enables the rich to get richer so that the poor get poorer. The mad president is constantly provoking the mad leader of North Korea so that both countries look like dictatorships under two irresponsible commander in chief. Nobody can stop them in either country. So perhaps USA is becoming more and more a rotten country like North Korea in the eyes of the rest of the world. Only that America like North Korea does not seem to care what the rest of the world thinks!
4
If he could fake forty five would be as evil as Kim. Unfortunately, for fake, we live in a republic not a monarchy.
1
Ms. Ki Yo-Jong is just as ruthless as Ivanka. One is the all American girl and the other goes back to the old stereotypes . Both are consumed with power and greed. Ivanka and her husband Jared who has no security clearance whose father was able to get him in Harvard and he takes his minority tenants to court who are late paying the rent in their ghetto housing. I fail to see the difference between the families. All about the greed and now wife beating is ok, along with in your face racism.
No matter how Madison Avenue markets this family they are the destroyers of American society and North Korea has for decades destroyed their society. Trump ultimate goal is to make America bow to him and we will never do that, we vote and his days are numbered along with his family members.
In regards to the envelope sent to the Trump son and his family in the mail, perfect timing. Fake news to get our attention off of the serious issues caused Russia.
2
Silly assertion that all unkind or immoral behaviors are equally heinous.
2
Common courtesy should have prompted Mike Pence to extend a hand of greeting to Kim Jun-um;s sister. Pence is, if possible, even more ignorant than Trump.
4
I remember the decade long US lionization of Soviet dissident Alexander Solitnetsyn. He was spent to a Gulag... He wasn't allowed to receive his Nobel Prize, he wasn't accorded free speech...
Eventually a thaw in the Cold War saw the Soviet Union allow him to move to the USA, where he promptly sank into obscurity.
Then he gave an Ivy League Commencement Address, where, after criticizing the Soviet Union, he shared some critical comments about the USA.
Those criticisms of the US sparked outrage. The decade of admiration for his outspoken courage in trying tto tell it like he saw it? Forgotten.
What does this have to do with Trump, and the Kim dynasty? Horrible Donald Trump hasn't jailed millions, on mere innuendo. But, if we paid attention to what he said about Guantanamo, he is fully prepared to do so.
Guantanamo wasn't full of "bad dudes", or what Rumsfeld called "The Worst of the Worst". Only about five percent of those who ended up there had any real tie to terrorism. The rest were either garden variety combatants, entitled to POW status, or completely innocent civilian by-standers, who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Trumps promise to re-fill Guantanamo, to subject the captives there to even worse torture than those used by Bush, shows that, on the human rights level, Trump has no moral advantage over Kim.
4
However it's parsed, NK cut the optics off at the knees for the USA bluster with a diplomatic gesture and invitation to SK. So much for the great deal maker with the US on the outside of peace making. Who can disagree with negotiation instead of nuclear annihilation brinkmanship?
Comparing Kim with Trump? I think trump did that himself when he started his nuclear twitter war with Kim. As for who's the most cruel leader in what's left of our democracy? Give trump an inch and he'll take a dictatorship.
5
Why are you offended that someone (the South Korean president for example) treats North Koreans as human beings rather than demons or monsters? Isn't that a necessary condition for reaching a negotiated resolution of the crisis? If we don't want resolution, then I guess war - which will mainly kill Koreans on both sides of the border -- is unavoidable.
2
Pence is the king of the smug, clam-lipped island of passive-aggressiva watching the Olympics next to his mother.
He should have worked with real diplomats (borrow some from a retired president!) and taken their informed recommendation what to say, and SAID IT.
2
I agree. Our current president and his family leaves much to be desired, but they ain't got nothing on the the Kim gang.
1
Your point is taken, Frank, but trump is far more dangerous than the Korean spoiled brat, because of the astronomical difference in the ability to do harm. Kim is continuing a despotic tradition while trump is mindlessly destroying a democratic tradition.
And Korea has much more to fear from us than we do from their pathetic saber rattling.
The women are both attractive hereditary cyphers.
2
Can America’s “rotten moment” be absolved through the good offices of evangelical whoop-de-do band leaders?
There’s a cohort of Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress types with a proclivity to refrain or refute Trump’s most unchristian acts, words or deeds.
A tsk-tsk under the rug approach surely adds a seal of approval to the most flagrant transgressions.
These are known in the trade as “Halo Hall passes”.
1
The sheep like laziness of much of the press is to blame for what passes for government these days.
While there are still real reporters around, they are a dying breed.
1
Extremely well put Frank.
3
Don't forget, Trump actually said he could shoot people in downtown New York City and get away with it.
The menace is here too
5
"Be outraged about what's going on in America. Don't be ridiculous."
It's sage words like these, and the fact that "ridiculous" is spelled correctly, that further my belief that Mr. Bruni is my personal guru. Please excuse me while I meditate on these words in an attempt to bring my blood pressure down.
Thank you.
No sir. Anti-Trump fervor has everything to do with his dismantling of the rule of law, putting butchers in positions of departmental power, blatant ignorance of anything to do with the real world, let alone his embrace of the astronomically wealthy to the detriment of everyone else. Analysis. Not tribal reaction.
2
"To these appalled critics, Pence exists on the same level as Kim’s sister — or even below it."
Comparing Kim Yo-Jong to Pence is a different question from falsely comparing the US to North Korea. Can we say for certain that Kim Yo-Jong has a choice in being Kim Jong-Un's accomplice? North Korean politics is murky to the outside world, and Kim Jong-Un has assassinated his own brother and executed his own uncle. Maybe Kim Yo-Jong is smiling and waving in the Olympics just to save her own life?
And she is just smiling and waving. Mike Pence is doing a lot more. He is an ACTUAL political official, one step away from becoming President himself. He, a supposed Christian, helped to sell the one-time Party of Lincoln out to white supremacists. He is actively helping turn America into a kleptocratic banana republic, and - unlike Kim Yo-Jong - we can safely say nobody is putting a gun to his head.
3
The Vice President actually has almost NO power of any kind. He is just a placemarker for the President -- in case the President dies -- OR as someone to go to state funerals and the like.
Mike Pence has no power to tell Donald Trump what to do or how to govern.
1
That Frank Bruni is right is obvious. That the majority of the commenters here take umbrage is a measure of how poorly the NYTimes informs their readers of world around them. The Times' stridently biased coverage of Trump has left its readers unsure if our government is much better than North Korea's. It has become the Fox News of the left. Shame.
3
I am stunned by the many comments here that disagree with F. Bruni and that actually think that the comparisons with Ivanka are apt. Kim Yo-jong flashes a "sphynx-like smile" and the entire liberal media (including the NYT) is fawning all over her like an embarrasing grade school crush.
Apparently, according to the comments here, the little detail of her running propaganda for the most repressive regime on the planet favorably compares to the Trump White House. This blind hatred of the President is getting silly.
2
Oh please, is this all Mr Bruni could conjure up as a theme for an article?
The very notion of equivalence, even mere comparability by any factual objective measure, between the DPRK and the US is too blatantly far-fetched to deserve serious thought and rebuttal. A fine straw man, and we are a long way off Brzezinski and Huntington's study of "similarities and contrasts, convergence or evolution" between the USA and USSR in the late sixties...!
But for the sake of debate, let's follow Mr Bruni's lead and slide away from seriousness. The single point of superficial US/DPRK similarity is actually yet another study in stark contrast:
Even the preposterous hairstyles are different down to the root(s). Mr Trump's struggles with scarcity, Mr.Kim's with abundance - hum, scarcity on the US side versus abundance in the DPRK... now that's fascinatingly counter-intuitive symbolism isn't it? If he ever again scrapes the barrel, perhaps Mr Bruni might find inspiration there?
1
Nonsense. I do not see any different between the two. Both are where they are because of family connection. What is and Kushner's qualification to be in the WH in the 1st place.
1
I could not care less about a "insult" directed at Ivanka or any false equivalence between her and Kim Yo-jong.
I care about living under a president who can't control himself, whose attention span is so short that few clocks are precise enough to measure them, who is wrong on education, trade, immigration, globalization, and the environment (just to mention the few things that come to mind quickly).
Mr. Bruni plays right into the same tweet-mentality that Trump uses to deflect from the damage he is doing to this country.
People will be dying from the pollution caused by "clean coal" long after it has enriched a few of Trumps friends. By the way, "clean coal" is an oxymoron - as in no oxygen and promoted by a moron.
Our business standing in the world will suffer because our orange-haired leader wants a shiny new aircraft carrier while China builds a Solar Energy industry.
There are many things about this administration that deserves attention - a banal insult of an insignificant relation is not one of them.
2
"America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core." ... for the moment, anyway ...
We get it, Frank Bruni. Donald Trump is bad, but he is not nearly as bad as Kim Jong-un. So, implying otherwise by comparing Kim Yo-jong to Ivanka Trump Kushner is wrong.
In fairness to Trump, he has been in office for only slightly more than a year, while Kim Jong-un has ruled North Korea for several years.
Should we also say that comparing the two leaders is premature? It is hard to know the correct way to go on this.
The last thing we want to do, of course, is too offend the supporters of Donald Trump and his daughter.
1
Skip the heartstrings Mr. Bruni. Of course America is not North Korea. But the mentality and viciousness of their respective leaders are very similar. Trump has also played dangerously close to threatening nuclear war. Only, Kim is a calculating evil despot. Trump's evil is guided by his unpredictable emotions. Which one is more dangerous for world peace? The answer is far from clear.
3
This is a significant article. Not for its ho hum content, rather for content of some of the comments such as: "Trump is as evil as Kim" and "Given the disgusting history of the entire trump menagerie, I tend to see this as an insult to Kim Yo-jong..." and others of a similar vein. This is why there is a growing and evolving hatred among conservatives for progressives. Those that articulate views such as those mentioned above are nothing short of irredeemably evil. Their comments on the awfulness of the Trump regime are little more than "the pot calling the kettle black".
4
When I heard comparisons to Ivanka, I did not take that as a compliment. To me it meant smug, entitled, chosen, privileged and patronizing.
4
Frank Bruni’s defense of Ivanka Trump, back-handed though it was, is refreshing in these days of America’s bad reputation of mistreating women.
No matter what one thinks of the Trump family, at least Ivanka reminds us that New York is still the fashion capital of the world. So far, her dad, with his slovenly dress, hasn’t destroyed that part of American greatness.
The next step American men have to learn is that respect for women is universal, especially in countries with which we are at war.
For the Koreans—North and South—to find some similarities with the style of American women lets us know that at least American women still carry the ball.
What defense?
1
Mr. Bruni never misses an opportunity to try to tear Ivanka Trump to the ground. She is working on supporting women-owned small businesses, and you can send your advice to her if you have run businesses. Hatred leads nowhere.
Frank, this is a great op-ed. I was similarly appalled to read comparisons made between Kim Yo-jong and Ivanka Trump. Criticisms of the Trump administration are well-deserved. But, to equate these two women is the most superficial bit of indiscriminate media nonsense that I've read in some time. It reflects a public cynicism that has equal capacity to undermine our national institutions as the administration that so many clearly despise.
1
Well, I guess we can hope that the guy with the worst hairdo in North Korea and tied with Trump for worst hairdo on the planet, is somehow calmed, chastened, and softened by his sister. Nothing to lose by hoping, but does not seem to be the case. We don't know what we don't know...
I can't stand Ivanka or any of the Trump children. And these kids clearly lack meaningful influence on crazy papa.
They grew up in an absurdly distorted and delusional bubble of privilege and 'best-ness' and it is beyond comprehension that they think they have any understanding at all what life is like for real people.
I can't wait until they all go away, just as I would wish away a plague of locusts.
3
No question that Kim and his clan are rotten apples. But what about us?
We execute—despite the fact that huge swaths of the population are against legalized murder and despite the question of whether we have always executed the “right” person.
We torture—hopefully not to the degree of depravity to which the young Warmbier was subjected. But we read just this week of the Guantanamo “detainee” subjected to anal intrusions and other atrocities until he “turned.” One can only wonder to what acts those who have not turned have been subjected.
We randomly kill and commit mayhem—by allowing access to crazy amounts of violent weapons. Think Las Vegas, Chicago, etc. I pity our police that are forced to work in environments where guns are used daily by citizens against each other and against them. It is amazing there are not more tragic shootings of unarmed citizens.
We intimidate by having a military budget that is three times that of the next country.
Our people might not be starving but huge swaths of our population are eating themselves to death and some of our zip codes have higher infant mortality rates than Trump's “sh” countries.
We allow a first daughter to sit in for the president when meeting with European leaders.
We are beyond a rotten moment. The Trump presidency is rotten to the core but it is one apple in a basket of apples having many rotten moments. We elected him actively, or passively, by abstaining to vote. We need to cure the sick apples in our own basket.
2
The "degree of ugliness" is not relevant here, both Kim Jo Yung and Ivanka Trump serve a similar purpose. They play to sexist delusions in an attempt to soften the image of fundamentally unstable anti-democratic war mongers. They both try to hide the fact that the Emperor wears no clothes. Upon closer scrutiny, they both fail dismally.
1
Today's column reminds me of Mr. Bruni's occasional swipes at America's colleges and universities. As with those, I find myself asking, "what is the problem that this column attempts to highlight or solve"? And, as with those, I scratch my head and say, "I don't know". Is anyone seriously equating Ivanka Trump with Kim Yo-Jong? The media, absolutely juvenile when it has time on its hands, has created a silly narrative to fill space and time. And Mr. Bruni, as is his seeming wont, responds as if we have a nationwide epidemic of wrongheadedness. Really, I mean really, there are more important topics than this.
1
Well, all, we are not like North Korea - sure, true; but, we are other things. Simple example: talk to Vietnam (and Laos and Cambodia) vets about things that they cannot actually legally talk about. Just sayin' ... Equating to North Korea? No, not exactly ... Just trying to keep things in some form of perspective, lest we fall into overzealous cognitive (and literal) isolationism and arrogance about our own history.
- TK
Re:
"But not all ugliness is created equal, Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un, the United States is nothing like North Korea and to come anywhere near that suggestion is nuts. Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous."
Does anyone remember when Raisa Gorbachov upstaged Nancy at Reykjavik? Little Sister has an easier mark: Mike Pence. The bar is lower now on the American side.
True. One is much more lethal than the other. But both are lethal to world peace, and equal liars. Once the threshold of lethality is reached, death is the sure outcome. The main difference is not in their lethality but in the societies neutralizing their poisons. One is a poisonous drip into an endangered ecosystem; the other has metastasized a whole body sick. We should remove all lethal poisons from the environment.
1
Mr Bruni, Kim Yo-Jong is the grand-daughter, daughter & sister of dictators who murdered anyone suspected of insufficiently worshipping them -- including close relatives. Her brother recently assassinated an older brother in a vicious attack at a foreign airport.
Ivanka Trump, meanwhile, having been born in a free society, enjoying enormous advantages all her life, of her own free will partook in a plot to subvert that society so that her family might become even more obscenely rich -- while others were robbed of their votes, their rights, their freedoms. Eminently unqualified, she schemed with her criminally inclined husband to become the successor to her doddering, utterly incompetent corrupt father, effectively shutting down America's democratic process.
The Trumps have availed themselves of KGB/FSB help freely, willingly & without the least compunction. All they care about is amassing even more wealth & power. Were Ivanka sincere, or concerned about Americans, she would be content to help the FBI investigate her family; she would welcome competent professionals running the WH.
Koreans, who speak one language & share a long history, deserve to be allowed to work together to overcome the bitter divisions caused by Marxism, the Kims' absolutism & war trauma. This won't be easy, but must not be begrudged. The South is strong enough to forge its own diplomacy. Incompetent Trump's dumb insults & threats only made things worse & made Kims more sympathetic, diminishing US.
1
She looks well fed too. With the all too documented atrocities behind her, I found her smirks grotesque. We are in a day and age that women are doing a lot of catching up-- deservedly so and are getting much media attention on crimes against them and their progress in the work place. But it should go without saying there are evil females too; Ms. Kim would be atop the list.
3
"America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
Same might have been said of Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe, South Africa. Change happens. Its a matter of time-scale. And USA is by no means out of the woods...
Trump is a symptom of American 'rottenness'.
To elect him is unfortunate. But for his attitude and behaviour to be welcomed by a significant number of supporters is outrageous. I even hear there is a chance that quite a few people might consider voting for him again.
I hope you are right, I hope its just a "rotten moment"; but I really have my doubts...
1
Yes, North Korea is rotten to the core, just like the Trumps. They are the same, through and through. Donald Trump would be doing ALL the things Kim Jong-Un is doing (having people executed) if he thought he could get away with it. And Ivanka is nothing but an enabler, complicit right down the line, along with her crooked husband. America may not be like N. Korea but its two leaders, at the moment, could not be more alike.
2
Domestically, the US is not North Korea.
But internationally it is far worse.
The US has killed tens of thousands of innocent people outside of its borders, something Kim has only threatened to do.
Kim has a long way to go to catch up to Bush, Obama, and Trump.
Bruni is correct to warn us about false equivalence or being taken in by the North Korean government's charm offensive. He reminds us of the evilisms of that government. Now, let's consider the American government's evilism. Andrew Jackson exterminated many members of American tribes. He also met with various tribe officials who would refuse his offers, he would threaten them and bribe the chiefs to get their "consent." These are illegitimate contracts by which he stole their land. Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy perpetrated the Vietnam holocaust, exterminating millions in Southeast Asia. The first Bush, Clinton and second Bush participated in the U.N. embargo of Iraq which exterminated hundreds of thousand of children.
Truman nuked innocent people. In Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physician's Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima and the Marshall Islands, James N. Yamazaki includes the story of Fujio Tsujimoto. Five years old at the time of the bombing, he was at Yamazato Elementary School. When the alarm was sounded, he rushed into a shelter. According to Fujio's account, "My brother and sisters were late in coming into the shelter; so they were burnt and crying." He goes on to say that his mother and sister died the following day, and then his brother died.
After making a list of the American government's evilism, we might want to examine the evilism of government in general -- being informed about its evilism can protect us from being bamboozled by its charm offensives.
3
If Trump were unrestrained by the Constitution, the Rule of Law and the Democrats, he would be as bad or worse than the Kim Jong-Un (and Putin).
2
Mountain out of mole hill..tempest in a teapot in all regards including this column. It was bad and boring enough when Frank, in order to fill column space, was hyperventilating and lecturing about a miniscule number of extreme left college students. Now he’s managed to go himself one better with this tedious harangue. Thanks Frank, we can think for ourselves,...Trump supporters ,..not so much.
If at all possible, the problems with North Korea should be dealt with by South Korea. This Olympic charm offensive could be a step in the direction of Korean unification. If the sister visit could help, great. Make Kim the figurehead president of a united Korea. The parallel with Ivanka is just poor journalism.
Bravo, Mr. Bruni. False equivalencies must be called out wherever they appear.
2
They are exactly alike. They play the game of pretty and cute while backing and protecting vile men. The only reason Trump is not like Kim is that he cannot do it under a democratic system. Just look at his attacks on the free press and the intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
1
It is true that North Korea is an evil empire and the US is a shining city that is momentarily ruled by an inept kleptocrat. But in which direction is each state moving? I can breath a small sigh of relief and maybe hope that North Korea is taking the first step on the path that China is walking. I worry when the doomsday clock is set to 11:59 and Trump is threatening a preemptive nuclear strike.
1
Thank you Mr. Bruni for what feels like fresh air. As a Korean currently living in South Korea whose amateur, pop journalism is beyond what I can stomach. "America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core." This is a statement that puts a clear line of demarcation in the thick fog of muddled language like 'peace' and 'diplomacy,' when the naked fact is we're dealing with a rogue state, supporting and supported by generational maniacs.
2
I would be careful about making the distinction between North Korea and the US that one is a "rogue state" and the other is not. Under George W. Bush, the US became the biggest "rogue state" in the world; the damage it did to the international system and international law by its invasion of Iraq was far, far greater than anything done by Russia or North Korea. This American myopia - indeed, arrogance - when it comes to the violations of the US is truly irritating. Open your eyes, Mr. Bruni - North Korea may be terrible, but when it comes to damaging the world it is, objectively, less consequential than the US. People who live in glass houses and all that...
1
Good piece. The reporting on Kim's sister is absurd. The general press has lost it's mind under the Trump Presidency. Dealing with a President you don't like and an evil dictator are two very different animals. There will be an election in less than three years, at that point Trump can be voted out of office. Kim is in office until he dies, it's hard to see the paralels.
3
"But not all ugliness is created equal, Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un."
Is that supposed to make us feel better? To feel superior? What a fine set of vain glorious emotions Mr. Bruni is tapping, when he has no idea how long America's "rotten moment" will last, nor how much more rotten it is or might well be for Americans less affluent and privileged than he. Trump, too, is proposing to sacrifice poor people's food to buy more missiles. If you are hungry or out on the streets, it doesn't matter who or how many are sitting on top patting each other on the back for being free.
For the most part I think Frank Bruni is right but I don't understand the going light on Trump Family Inc. America is enduring an 'epoch terribilis' with daily attacks by President Trump on the fabric of the nation. The North Koreans have rendered Pence, and by association Trump and the USA, to second tier in the spin sweepstakes. Murderous rogue that Kim Jong-un is, this dress up has worked extraordinarily well to improve the global image of his dark and dangerous state. As for the Ivanka - Kim Yo-jong comparison - she's just as phony as Kim Jong-un's little sister which I think validates the comparison. Ivanka Trump has zero business in sitting at the global table - she brings neither commitment nor expertise to any political gathering. Like Kim Yo-jong her pretty face is being used to blur and soften the harsh reality of two leaders the planet would be better off without.
1
How are Mike Pence and Kim Yo-Jong similar? (forget Ivanka)
Though they ignored each other as they sat in the stadium for all the world to see, I noticed they both have that placidly assured, otherworldly vibe & visage -- as though they were beamed in from a planet that is ruthlessly ruled by a scary religious cult.
Even worse than our current one.
2
When it come to evil, Kim Jong-in may have Donald Trump beat at the moment but Trump is certainly doing his best imitation of Kim in tying to catch up. As we know, Trump is never happy unless he is the greatest at whatever he does so I have no doubt that given half a chance he will make Kim look like small potatoes when it comes to evil compared to Trump.
1
Frank, one major difference between South Korea (which needs to act like it is also on a charm offensive) and the United States (which has a bigger button --- and it WORKS!) is that the nukes which the North have are also pointed at Seoul. Which is less than 100 miles from the dictator's base. No missile defense system would be able to stop a nuke launched at Seoul.
So, if I were South Korean, I would also embark on a charm offensive, if only to get them to think that I am endeared to their overtures. Play it cool until you are in a position to secure their nukes. Then return to a stone face and demand that they start acting like a normal country. But this can only be done once there is assurance that the nukes are out of the way.
If it takes a smile or two, so be it.
2
Ivanka would willingly and happily do her father's bidding, no matter what evil he came up with. We don't know if Kim Yo-jong has a choice but to do what she does. Ivanka made the choice with zeal. She is a duplicate of her father and is proud of that. She sees him as a genious (and therefore sees herself as one LOL)
All of the comments, well almost all, focus on the comparison between N.Korean dictator's sister and Ivanka Trump, and, above all, v.p. Pence's "ineptitude," but overlook fact that it was the quiet, effective behind-the-scenes diplomacy between North Korean diplomats and ours that made her visit to South Korea possible.Like the old Rodney Dangerfield joke, "I don't get no respect!"Triumph of admin. in effecting a rapprochement at least in so far as Olympic Games are concerned has been given short shrift by liberal media, including Times newspaper,and its unctuous commenters whose flaccid interventions fall short of being enlightening, informative.Time past due for EB to recognize viewpoints of many of us out there who support the admin. and back up our opinions with facts and specifics.
1
Why are you offended Frank ?
I beg to differ, there is no difference between the two, when Mueller is done with trump you will realize how rotten trump is to the core. Perhaps worse because America is far superior Country ,than North Korea and still the Country elected trump.
They do not have Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln yet we allowed trump to be the leader.
Now Ivanka and Kim Yo-jong both are beautiful, do we know Ivanka, really ?
She is showing more and more ugliness in remaining quiet when Her and Jared are trump`s adviser and again Jared does not have security, clearance , why ?
Again what ugliness id hidden in there that we don`t know about.
Be worried because I am.
1
Unlike Ms. Kim, Ivanka Trump doesn't head a "Propaganda and Agitation Department" which has been blacklisted by the UN for serious human rights abuses. Ms. Kim is clearly well suited for a propaganda job, as evidenced by the skill with which she manipulated the media.
3
"But there can be no mistake: America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
Actually, Mr. Bruni, this IS a mistake. North Koreans did not vote for this rotten dynasty. But in 2016, some 47% of the voters DID knowingly vote for what we ended up with.
Oh please. Ivanka was used to white wash and normalize Trump during the campaign exactly in the same fashion as Kim Il Jong’s sister is being used at the Olympics. At present both women bring exactly the same qualifications to their involvement in government— nepotism. And if Trump starts a nuclear war by first military action in N Korea — which country really has the craziest leader?
The young man who lost his life in N Korea is a tragedy. But if the US kicks out of our country a million plus young adults and children who only know the US as home; which leader is the most inhumane?
Both women are used for their pretty faces and both women are trading on family connections, not qualifications or experience. Apt comparison.
I thoroughly agree with the premise of this piece. However, there's an important development in the diplomatic initiative that North Korea has undertaken by competing in the Olympics and by sending Kim Jong-Un's sister as representative.
At this point in time, one of the most disruptive things that North Korea could do is not to test another missile, rather they could make peace overtures to South Korea and to other Asian nations. The combined Korean Olympic team have produced a lot of good feelings. Further initiatives by the North could open a real gap between the U.S. an South Korea.
Contrast peace overtures with brutal threats of war coming from the Whitehouse--threats that must terrify everyone on the Korean Peninsula. Contrast Kim Yo-jong's charm offensive with Vice President Pence's sullen refusal to stand when the combined Korean team marched in the opening ceremony. Recall that President Trump has not yet managed to appoint an ambassador to South Korea. Dr. Victor Cha, Trump's earlier nominee, withdrew his name due to profound disagreements over policy.
No matter how awful North Korea is, war would be far worse for all the Korean people. South Korea is certainly aware of this. Depending on how sophisticated a game Kim Jong-un is willing to play, the Olympics could once again have a role in geopolitics.
75
What would be worse if in a few years he can extort the world with nuclear weapons.
The scary part of this rather banal episode is that many of us, including commenters here, draw comparisons between Kim Jung-un and Trump. I cannot stand Trump or his regime, but it is a woefully deluded example of false equivalence to equate these two.
We must, as a nation, do better than Trump. But we also must, as a nation, keep our heads on straight. Were we in North Korea, the state would demand it, or else.
5
This piece is curiously similar to an essay in the Daily Telegraph, amazingly similar in their half-based truths and cynical towards any attempt at building trust on the Korean peninsular. Mr Bruni seems to forget that the USA almost completely destroyed North Korea during the war through intensive bombing and murdering tens of thousands of civilians through napalm, the problems of Korea have been mostly the fault of the USA, who was it who declared that the USA would 'destroy North Korea' last year? Which country dropped two nuclear bombs at the end of the second World War? It is clear that we need more engagement between the two Koreas and articles like Mr Bruni's are only trying to deflect from genuine efforts by the North Koreans to achieve some sort of dialogue to avert any future conflict. The visit by the North Koreans was a godsend to worldpeace and it should be applauded not cynically approached.
1
I enjoyed seeing Kim's sister and in a match up with Ivanka I would put her on top. She didn't make-believe her brother was a nice guy, she didn't say all the stories about SK were fake news, she didn't make speeches saying how she was going to help women, the middle class and the poor. She smiled, watched the games and cheered on her team. She talked to the president of SK, passed on the message to him from her brother and showed more class than Pence who just sat there with his trademark plastic smile while he badmouthed NK.
4
Oh, please! Try to get it. The comparison is only for the function - a younger close relative representing a leader - not the leaders themselves or the systems. S Koreans were more much aware of Ivanka's role, so the S Korean media used this as a basis of comparison, and it is an apt one. That said, the fawning over a figure from a hostile country is not unusual - Americans did that over Uncle Joe Stalin during WWII (when we decided he was our friend despite millions having starved or gone to gulags and the invasion of Finland & Poland) and Teng Xiao-ping at a time China was far less open. The N Korean sister's presence would be of obvious public and media interest in the South, but despite the sizzle, it doesn't change S Korean views of N Korea or S Korean commitment to democracy. Too bad that some our columnists even think they have to compare to US system against the word's lowest standards in NK.
1
I couldn't get past the second paragraph of this diatribe.
I presume "the country" refers to the US. I find this US-centric world view to be morally and practically unfortunate. Who is responsible for the People's Republic of N.Korea's status as "arch-enemy" but some hawks in Washington, not US citizens. I suppose most visitors to the games from abroad are "cheerleaders" for their teams, so why is it implicitly negative when it comes to the People's Republic? Why dismiss its delegation as "so-called dignitaries". A dignitary is an influential or important person, which I assume accurately describes the delegation from the People's Republic? The term "rogue state" is a mindless US propaganda term. Few are as "homicidal" in recent decades as has been the US, with its many wars, sanctions, and the chaos resulting from its frequent deconstruction of states. Serious scholars do not see President Kim as a fanatic, but as a staunch defender of his country's interests, who is shrewd and willing to act boldly if necessary. Trump is a far better example of a fanatic. The US has no problems with fanatic countries such as Israel having nuclear weapons. President Kim is proud of his country's nuclear achievements, but why turn this into a mindless "glee"? He does not threaten "other countries" in general, but defends against a particular nuclear power with an enormous military force right at its border. Compare this with the Cuban missile crisis.
The Olympics is a light-weight sports entertainment industry attraction that earns many people much money. It is not a geo-political event although part of its marketing is to create athletic adversaries from political adversaries for the commercial purpose of putting many eyeballs in front of televisions.
The appearance of Kim's sister was just a little side bar story. It means nothing and is not something about which it is worth getting worked up.
1
I admit I've been paying less attention to the Olympics than I would like, but I did see the opening ceremonies, and saw Kim Yo-jong lurking behind Pence in the box reserved for People You Wish Weren't There. She seemed to spend most of her time sneering disdainfully at the back of Pence's head.
Where was the part where she charmed offensively? Where was the sizzle? I think I missed it.
3
Agreed. I'm not seeing much charm. She gives me the creeps, and for good reason.
2
on another note -- watching Shaun White's medal awarding, i suddenly felt proud again to be an American. There has been so much Trump and Republican Party dirt over the last couple of years that i was losing hope in this country. But looking at Shaun and the diverse faces of America's athletes reminded me that there is still hope for this country if we the voters accept our responsibility as citizens.
2
I think this article and the supporting ones are being a little unfair. The point is, we are willing to take the risk of hope. We realize NK is a dictatorship of monstrous proportions. But a nuclear war is far more monstrous. Any way to move away from taunting and daring one another to use their "big button" is good.
Nice that David French doesn't like liberals' tribalistic acceptance of NK if its "shading" the Trump administration. Neither do I and I agree with Mr. Bruni.
But I wonder how many articles French wrote about Putin having a higher approval rating among conservatives than Obama? Obama turned the worst financial crisis of our lifetime in 8 years of unprecedented stable growth. Putin attacked us.
North Korea is no doubt evil but they haven't attacked us. Liberals being lax on North Korea isn't the problem, Republicans colluding with Russia is.
2
Mr Bruni. We rarely agree but you are spot on with this analysis. Well done.
1
I agree that North Korea is bad. However, let's not forget that we went over there in the 1950s and killed over a million people. Let's not believe that having killed over a million people, that have the moral high ground.
Just as Russia may be trying to influence US elections, North Korea is most decidedly trying to influence world opinion in a far more blatant way.
I agree that the phrase is questionable on too many levels and American journalists were better to not repeat it. Just "forget about it!".
No, the United States is not North Korea. Certainly in the sense meant here--we are less backward by modern standards and, for now, (maybe) more stable. But also in the sense that North Korea has not started any wars or illegally toppled any elected foreign governments in the last sixty years, whereas we've been doing such things incessantly. (A very incomplete list that pops to mind: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Viet Nam, Cambodia.) So who exactly is "trying to pass themselves off" as peaceful and responsible? I'd say both. One big difference, though, is that the North Koreans know full well they are fed propaganda, whereas ours is more skillfully packaged and we lap it up. (And no, I am not of Trump's "fake news" persuasion; this is a different animal.)
1
The absence of opportunity is not the same as absence of motive. Give any ambitious political figure - let along an unstable, self-obsessed narcissist like Trump - anywhere in the world even a fraction of Kim Jong-Un's power and see what they do with it. Things that happen in North Korea do not happen in America only because there remain - for the moment - checks and balances.
In my view, the "rotten moment" that America is in has lasted nearly 120 years, ever since the Spanish-American War (and one can make the case for adding another 50 years by starting with the Mexican-American War). Down through history, America has interfered with the governments of numerous sovereign nations, invariably on the side of repressive, right wing regimes, ostensibly to promote democracy over communism, but in reality to promote and protect American business. America is every bit as "rogue" as is North Korea.
Thank you Frank. No fan of Pence here. While he could have been more gracious, this whole charm offensive thing is just that: offensive.
1
It seems much media coverage of Kim Yo-jong dealt with trying to figure out what to make of her. Those who commented on her 'charm' often added how it should in no way distract attention away from her family's brutality. She also seemed to epitomize the North Korean diplomacy conundrum--do we extend an olive branch, be the 'bigger' nation, start talks to move toward peace? Or is that futile and misguided? Must North Korea be ostracized, sanctioned and threatened into submission? Pence's behavior around this inscrutable woman, and the world's reaction to it, was a microcosm of how no one really knows what the play is.
1
Though the two are far from equivalent, there is a common denominator between the Trump administration and the North Korean regime. Their respective domestic political survival is overly invested in belligerant, prideful rhetoric. For a genuine, lasting peace, there is no option but to drop that nonsense and "unconditionally" enter the same room to shake hands with those miserable wretches. Only then can you get to talking about the obvious, practical solution of reunification. And to that end, the sister's genial smile was more than superficial, it was absolutely significant. She smiled and engaged the South Korean government. What did we do, other than send the Mr. and Mrs Pence cheerleading sqad?
I found Pence's actions way more offensive than North Korea's. And Trump and his family are no better than North Korea's.
Seriously Bob, Trump hasn't murdered anyone and he's not even in the same league as crazy boy from NK. I get it you hate trump as do I but there is no comparison whatsoever.
1
Trump has not yet resorted to assassination as a political tool, and Bruni is right that he cannot be fairly compared with Kim Jong-un. But it may be Trump's most destructive legacy that he has managed to turn all of public life into "a pageant and a public relations contest." The devolution of serious and substantive public discussion into just another entertainment spectacle will have longer lasting effects in this country than sociopathic violence.
65
Trump's most destructive legacy? His destruction of our social fabric and the programs and agencies at the federal level that protect and support all the people, not just the wealthy. Look at the destruction of government agencies (even State); the crippling of healthcare; the plans to cut SS, Medicare, Medicaid; deregulation; a tax bill that balloons the deficit for the benefit of the very wealthy and for corporations and certain kinds of businesses (like Trump's), just to name a few. The propaganda effort dates back to the 70s and then to establishment of Fox News (so-called); the entertainment aspect of public life is more recent, though Reagan did it in a more dignified way. Trump is the ultimate outcome of Republican policies over 4+ decades.
US and N. Korea have a quite different political system and history. However, they are the same in the sense that a political leader's family exercises political influence without any legitimacy but kinship. It is feudal.
3
I think more Americans are just beginning to wake up to the fact that the American left has truly lost its moral bearings. That, of course, is the reason Trump won in the first place.
3
Frank, you're right, it's an unfair comparison. Kim is a much more effective ambassador for her country than Ivanka could ever hope to be. She goes on the big stage and performs beautifully, every time Ivanka goes into the world, she makes a foll of herself, and us.
2
Nobody elected Kim, but WE voted for DT - if only just enough to secure electoral college majority. THAT is the sad distinction. And Kim has not yet sold himself or his country to russians or chinese or the next highest bidder.
3
Thank you, Frank.
It was exasperating not only to see Kim Yo-jong's wedge-driving mission meet with so little resistance in the news media, but also to see President Moon of South Korea play up to her so eagerly. His wide-eyed grinning and scurrying made quite a contrast with her stately walk, uplifted nose, and cool half-smile. The results of her mission should have been highly satisfactory to her brother.
And no, Donald Trump is not comparable to Kim Jong-un. Even as much as I excoriate him and his supporters around here, I recognize that.
North Korea always reminds me a not so ancient Japan (as a Japanese) when an emperor got scot-free by abandoning his millions of subjects (literally) and maintained a reputation of affection by fielding many surrogates like Kim Yo-jong. So I am seasoned to this sort of charm offences and know that people have short memory and can be easily distracted.
Kim Jong-un may have killed many and can; Trump is similar to him in a sense that he suggested the US killed many like Russia and he would use nuclear bombs on the North. Probably this episode of Kim Yo-jong is not something so upsetting. But something we have to be cautious.
1
Valid correction: but why do WE tolerate Ivanka at all as a representative of the US? Not elected, not the First lady with a limited sphere of operations. She has no business representing the US - or being presented as such by the press.
North Korea a force for evil. That country shouldn't be our touchstone.
Of course the Olympics is an odd place to play out undisguised political differences. Fierce competitions occur wtih national pride on the line, but with generally strict protocols (so I thought) that avoid the 'enemies in a box' situation that was set up with Pence juxtaposed with Kim Yo-jong.
3
... and who had the ill-judgment to send Pence and his wife on a charm offensive?
I couldn't put Pence and charm in the same sentence!
I have been astounded that there has actually been some talk about reunification. As if life, as you say, is a pageant or a public relations contest. As if Kim Jong-un will suddenly see the light, give up his dictatorial ways and sing Kumbaya with his southern brothers. As if those in the south, no matter what their feelings towards the U.S. are, will be willing to give up their way of life in order to present a unified Korean front to the world.
I write this in ignorance, knowing the history of the Korean Conflict only through scant paragraphs in high school textbooks, even though I had an uncle who died in the conflict. How dare any of us draw parallels about situations probably most of us know so little about. I know I plan to bone up on my history.
5
By all means, we should disavow leaders who ruthlessly hold onto power through intimidation and murder, with little or no regard for international law. That includes Vladimir Putin, for whom our president has a strange affinity. When criticized by Hillary Clinton during the campaign for wanting Putin to like him, Trump replied, “I'm saying to myself what's wrong with that? That's good.”
Cue the Buzzfeed headline.
19
Both women are used to divert attention away from the rotten things both countries are doing. That's the similarity Mr. Bruni. Don't make it more complicated than it really is, there's no substance here just more political gamesmanship.
33
Well, they both made it to the top through family connections, didn't they?
21
Yes Thomas, and they both have two feet, two hands and a nose. I think you may be missing the point.
1
Trump was an outsider. What are his family connections?
Yeah... coming out in defense of anything Trump is a losing gamble. I mean, the sole purpose of Pence being at the Olympics is to interfere with North and South Korea's diplomatic efforts. Our policymakers want the talks to fail, or not happen at all. They are goading the peninsula into a war.
Trump is slashing every safety net - one of the things we have that distance us from countries like North Korea which is reputed to make their anyone labeled as saboteurs work while they starve until they die.
Even if you're right, you start this off saying don't confuse the US with a rogue state, but then you make it out to be in defense of the first lady? Pick a subject and stick to it without muddying the waters. I can't wholely disagree with you because I'm not entirely sure what you're even on about.
6
The United States has for nearly a century had its hand in supporting brutal dictatorships, murderous regimes, and death squads. In the last two decades it has invaded and smashed the government of Iraq, leading to thousands of Americans wounded and dead, and potentially hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. We have supported warlords and thugs in Afghanistan; our policy in Syria seems to be to support jihadi groups against Assad's government. Our government has meddled in elections around the world, embargoed states like Cuba for years depriving them of necessary medical supplies and resources. Our economic policies have pillaged public companies and resources, led to massive inequality and poverty in those nations, and to massive wealth for our own oligarchy.
Ivanka represents something far worse than Kim Yo-jong, because her regime has the power to inflict misery across the world, and not just inside its own borders.
34
Do the Trumps represent 'good-natured emissaries of a normal place?' I think that train wrecked some time ago.
Perhaps the Trump Administration is not as rogue as North Korea. Yet. But the president seems determined to destroy government's capacity to solve problems domestically, serve all Americans, and be a reliable partner in the fold of nations. But the worse things get--and they're getting worse, despite media attempting to normalize this rogue cast for fear of appearing somehow 'biased' otherwise--the more often we may see North Korea as the easy comparator. We're way out of Norway's league, that's for sure. Trump sounds like some of the infamous tinpot military strongmen who oversaw kleptocracies and ground their countries down to the nub. Except he's armed with a twitter account.
Jury's still out, Mr. Bruni. Maybe when the entire family divests and the president releases his tax returns and they show beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn't being blackmailed by Russian loan sharks, and he assembles a cabinet that isn't working to replace the Constitution with some corporate board structure.
In other words, forget statecraft. We are saddled with a narcissistic slacker who lacks a conscience. He's right down there with Kim, Duterte, and Putin, enemies of democracy. Toss Pence into the conversation and maybe as a country we could gain entry into the fold of rogue nuclear theocracies.
62
I agree that we're NOT North Korea today, yet. But I think you may be overreacting to some clever pundits who are just looking for a parallel, not an identical match, to compare the two. However, the possibility that someone might see a closely comparable situation between Kim and Trump, or his sister and Ivanka, is not the fault of a reckless media, or hysterical liberals. The fault lies with Trump, his family, and their entourage of sycophants and supporters, for assembling a history of disreputable activities in their past business lives and continuing up to the present.
16
We are not ever going to be North Korea, can you get a grip!
1
North Korea's rulers have been beastly to their own people. Our history, which extends over a much longer period, boasts the abject abomination of slavery -- along with the buying and selling of women and children for fun and profit. The civil war was not followed by the rejection of the ideas of racial superiority and entitlements but by lynchings and huntings.
The odds of nuclear weapons putting an end to life on earth are significant. You decide where the buck stops on this question. There was a brief period when only the US possessed nuclear weapons. If we had acted to renounce them then, chances were we could have established a workable framework to prevent nuclear weapons indefinitely.
6
Drawing an equivalence between the US and North Korea is of course ludicrous.
However, I wonder why the American media doesn't show even a fraction of outrage over the following:
- The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world (yes, we even imprison more people per capita than North Korea).
- In fact, American prison conditions are considered so savage by civilized standards that the UK recently refused to extradite a prisoner to the United States, citing the inhumane condition of American prisons.
- Our police forces kill thousands of people a year - many of whom are unarmed, and many of whom are killed in error. Police officer are almost never held accountable.
- The United States currently runs detention camps for immigrants where the conditions are inhumane by any reasonable standard, and without a modicum of due process for those held there.
Again, this is not to equate American and North Korea. But our country is increasingly deficient when it comes to human rights (yes, even prisoners and undocumented immigrants are human), and deadly abuses of power by police forces are the norm.
To say that our news media - whose job is to inform the public - focuses even a tiny grain of attention on these serious human rights deficiencies by the United States would be an overstatement.
20
I agree that we're North Korea today, yet. But I think you may be overreacting to some clever pundits who are just looking for a parallel, not an identical match, to compare the two. However, the possibility that someone might see a closely comparable situation between Kim and Trump, or his sister and Ivanka, is not the fault of a reckless media, or hysterical liberals. The fault lies with Trump, his family, and their entourage of sycophants and supporters, for assembling a history of disreputable activities in their past business lives and continuing up to the present.
3
"Well, I think our country does plenty of killing, too." Mr. Trump is willing to blithely press the delusion that there is no difference between America and Putin's Russia. Trump's rhetoric often tells us he would just as soon be rid of the free press, the independent judiciary, and the Constitution, among other things. Without external restraints, how far would Trump go? Let's hope we never find out.
13
But, as a matter of fact, whether one likes Trump or despises him (as I do), wasn't there a grain of truth in his response to Joe Scarborough? To not acknowledge that is to lie to ourselves.
Don't kid yourself, Mr. Bruni. If The Donald isn't Kim Jong-On it isn't for lack of trying. Fortunately we have two other co-equal branches of government here that, while dominated by his fellow Republicans, do- at least to some extent- manage to restrain Mr. Trump from operating in accordance with his worst, and most unconstitutional, instincts. He has, after all, lavished praise upon virtually every strongman in the world with the exceptions of Kim and the Ayatollah Khamenei. He's demonstrated zilch respect for the law or for America's most time-honored institutions (excluding only greed and corruption). He's a Kim Jong-On wannabe and deserves no respect from any of us for his not quite stepping up to Kim's level of addled authoritarianism.
75
Don’t forget Trumps prior praising of Kim to add to your list: “South Koreans were taken aback by President Trump when he referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a "pretty smart cookie."
https://www.google.com/amp/thehill.com/homenews/administration/331508-so...
People will die under the Trump administration as a result of the legislation and tax policy enacted quite deliberately to enrich a small group of already uber wealthy corporate and financial guys who own the GOP. Ivanka, like her dad, is shilling her godawful line of just about everything from the Imperial Palace.
People are daily being deported and lives ripped apart. She is the lipstick on the pig that is her family. Kim has nukes, Trump has nukes. He hasn't sent anyone home in a body bag yet. Give him time.
16
You're forgetting Trump's air strikes in Yemen and Syria.
1
Well heck Frank, we actually DID nuke a country once. Remind me again how many human beings not in military uniforms were melted on the spot?
And in case you're not all that up on geo-political realities--South Korea is full of people hoping to see their relatives in the North just once more, for maybe fifteen minutes or so, before all of them die. Under such circumstances one tends to use diplomacy to try to crack the door open just a wee little bit.
And they sure as heck wish people like you would just shut up and stop trying to ruin things for them.
8
I will gladly charter a plane at my expense and send all President Trump's detractors on this comment board to North Korea. Since you find their leader so fascinating, I think you should be a citizen of his country. It will be a one-way ride and once there you are on your own. How does that sound?
16
You seem to be using Mr Kim’s tactics of straw man argument and smear.
It is the duty of Americans to expect lawful behavior of Mr Trump in our democracy FYI.
1
And if you decide you want to finally come back, I'll pay for your return. Not too worried about having to fork over too much, however...
That is what is called a straw man argument. Look it up.
2
OK Frank give me some help here! Just when I started to get a handle on all of the downsides occurring in the last two years you added a fashion wrinkle that develops an additional feud between the sister of the North Korean cipher dictator and Ivanka Trump. For 86 years, through the great Depression, WWII, Korean War, the Boomers, Iran's hostage taking, 9/11, the Gulf War One and Gulf War Two, I still held on to the fact that warts and all this was a great country to be savored. But the last two years, while you-know-who was draining the swamp (ha ha ha) the American people have experienced a stunning reversal of fortune. And now we have to deal with a fashion contest between two women (one the sister of a loony dictator and the other the daughter of a loony president of the most powerful country in the world (for now) competing for tabloid fashion photos. This country needs help!
16
Mr. Bruni omits one key point of similarity between North Korea and the United States. Both feature heads of state primarily consumed with continuing in power and who are both willing and able to abuse government to perpetuate their respective regimes. Here's where the countries are different on this point. North Koreans are powerless to bring the Kim dynasty to an end in part because that country is not self-governed. Those lucky enough to live in the United States have no similar rationale for failing to act by, for example, demanding that the House impeach President Trump and that the Senate remove him from office without delay.
8
Despite that she is allegedly a senior White House adviser, Ivanka Trump's only claim to fame is that she sells shoes and purses. Kim Yo-Jong is a member of of the family that has ruled North Korea since the late 1940s and is one of the most murderous and cruel dictatorial regimes in modern history. As much as I laugh at her pretentiousness Ivanka is harmless. The woman she is being compared with is most definitely not.
8
Yes, except that, being Kim's sister, and seeing how 'safe' his half-brother was, could affect her participation...
Well you are certainly right about that.
I am thankful every day for Trump. The left is full of hate. Trump will win again in 2020. Cry.
13
You don't exactly sound full of love yourself, with your exhortations to "cry".
Perhaps you think because America is wealthy, it isn't rogue? That the data collected from Cointelpro to every smart phone isn't rogue? Or gerrymandering Congressional districts so that a majority of votes for one party statewide doesn't change the party that holds the Congressional seats isn't rogue? Or turning the election of state Supreme Court judges into political contests based on extreme partisanship isn't rogue?
How about a budget that increases defense by $777 billion as it cuts medicare by $213 billion? Maybe you see a difference between draconian and rogue?
Maybe you are focused on the structure and not the results: a pattern of dead black male youth has a chilling effect on a whole population; as does the deportation of fathers picked up at schools waiting on their children, mothers shipped out unable to hug their children--people who played by the rules caught up in the xenophobic/neurotic, single-minded hatred of a delusional narcissist without integrity at the head of power--that's not rogue?
Scattered statistics cover the greed and the waste as you and others in the media continually/subtly buy into American exceptionalism or its "greatness." Your privilege and denial miss the mirrors of horrors for parents without rent, in low wage jobs, privatized prisons and with learning inadequacies. Your denial plays as distraction, blocks real discussion of change, but worse--it makes you sound like a fool.
34
Thank goodness for Mr. Bruni and those in the media like him who refuse to succumb to idiocy and delusion in comparing USA unfavorably or on par with North Korea. The USA (meaning its government and citizens) is far from perfect no doubt, but no rationale or fair minded person can equate it with the viciousness and depravity of North Korea’s government. The United States is an amazing country that really is still a land of opportunity. None of its citizens would trade living here for North Korea.
1
Jared:
Have you seen the inside of the Tombs, Angola in Louisiana, Marion in Illinois (closed), Max in Florence, Colorado, Baltimore City Jail (where Freddie Gray died) or the prison in Livingston, TX; do you know the still working/full pensioned correctional officer called the Preacher (he recites bible verses as he dispenses brutality against inmates) whose violence has resulted in over a million dollars in settlements paid to keep him employed?
No! You don't! You only know your ideals, based on your privilege and denial. You never see the "amazing" country with the largest prison population in the world, 110 drug deaths a day, 1500 mass shooting events in 12 months, exceeding every industrial democracy on the planet!
As it is hidden and out of sight, the daily reality beyond your touch, it doesn't affect you. So you fail to see the institutionalized danger and death, the deliberate and malicious pain and fear and dread that is also America!
The separation of the two sides is deliberate, a strategy developed in defense of slavery, when the manners of the manor were well insulated from the brutality and blood of the fields.
So women are denied justice, so others suffer--including 13 million who will lose healthcare, and because they are scattered statistics in a budget. You don't realize our system of wealth creates waste, so it's okay to act like blind mules and pretend it doesn't exist, can't be changed, or necessary because the "lazy" victims are to blame!
1
This is like those espy columns about a fabricated question in sport that the 'experts' then spend hours debating. Ivanka vs. the North Korean.
It's heartening to see that the so called 'newspaper or record,' too, does bend low every now and then to present joyously wasteful nonsense in its pages.
3
Trump is where he is, as you say, because of his ability to turn the election into a pageant where the most conspicuous performer wins. It is truly sad that the American public seems not to have grown out of the junior high mindset that elects the most outlandish character, usually because s/he says homework will be abolished or something equally ridiculous.
8
Please do not insult Kim Jo-yong by a comparison to Ivanka Trump.
6
The idiocy of these comments just drives more people to abandon the Democrat party.
1
"America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core." Well said.
10
How ironic that the same mainstream media which is so quick to accuse Trump of being enamored by dictators, is the first to become enamored with the sister of a genocidal murderer, and allow itself to be totally manipulated by a completely contrived propaganda campaign. If history is any guide, the US will be put under great pressure to ease up on sanctions (probably cheer led by people like Nicholas Kristoff and other progressives) because of supposed moderation on the part of North Korea. And if true to form as it has in the past, as soon as the sanctions ease up -- by the next administration most likely -- and China and Russia are no longer in the US corner on UN Security Council voting, North Korea will go right back to extreme saber rattling and continuing to develop its nuclear weaponry. And how ironic that the mainstream media lambasts VP Pence for being such a stick in the mud party pooper at the Olympic games during all of this -- translation: not falling for it.
11
Maybe you missed it? This mainstream media editorial to which you have added your comment is doing exactly the opposite of what you are asserting. Thanks for participating, JW.
JW wrote,
"How ironic that the same mainstream media which is so quick to accuse Trump of being enamored by dictators, is the first to become enamored with the sister of a genocidal murderer, and allow itself to be totally manipulated by a completely contrived propaganda campaign ..."
1
JM:
I’m always curious from what sources the people who are disdainful of mainstream media get their information: Fox? Breitbart? InfoWorld? Russian Bots on the Internet? I guess you find those more reliable?
It is interesting that you mention sanctions as Trump has refused to implement the sanctions that were voted overwhelmingly by both Houses to punish the Russians for interfering in our election—the one before which his team had multiple meetings with the Russians to discuss the lifting of sanctions in exchange for their help. Or was that in your view just the creation of the MSM?
1
Oh please. This article was scathingly anti-north Korea. And Pence refused to stand for ANY Olympic team except the US: this flies in a be face of good sportsmanship (this is the Olympics!) and highlights the thuggish philosophy of this administration.
1
I absolutely dislike Trump. And I see Ivanka as just another Trump squeezing as much money out of this presidency as she can. However, the comparison to KYJ would have been better received as a comic parody. I mean no disrespect to Ms. YJ. It is just that they are about as alike as Melania Trump and Karen Pence.
In just this photo, Ms. YJ is wearing practical shoes, no make up, no manicure, no blowout, and no botox. And I doubt that is a $4K suit. Nothing about Ivanka is practical or modest. The Trumps flaunt their money and influence.
Things that make you hmmm! Is America too materialistic?
11
By any objective reading the USA is a rogue state: non-signatory to the ICC, check, maintains an offshore gulag, check, spies on citizens, check, invades other countries using manufactured pretexts, check, supplies arms to dictators and countries that practice apartheid, check, created a network of black-op torture sites around the world, check, operates a drone execution program with no judicial oversight that targets and kills civilians, check, operates kidnap and rendition programs on foreign soil, check, engages in offensive cyber attacks against foreign infrastructure, check, targets and intimidates journalists and whistleblowers, check, long history of meddling in the democratic processes of Central and South American nations and training their soldiers and law enforcement in terror tactics, check, banks engage in money laundering for criminal and drug cartels, check.
1
All that needs be said...or seen...of Ivanka Trump, her mindset, self-entitlement, and amorality is a photograph of her as a teen-ager sitting provocatively on her father's knee, clad in a pair of very short shorts. To say the position and dress were inappropriate is an understatement.
I don't understand the comparison. U.S. Presidents murder people on a worldwide scale (drone assassinations); have destroyed entire societies (e.g., Iraq, Libya); the U.S. backs the most repressive regime on the planet (Saudi Arabia); the U.S. state kidnaps people and imprisons them indefinitely (Gitmo). The N. Korea regime is benign compared to the Cheney/Obama/Trump government.
2
One of a very few things Trump has said which rings true, in my opinion, is that the United States isn't so innocent. I believe he said that in the context and response to US intelligence agencies verifying Russia's manipulating the presidential election. Trump is an evil man and an inept president. Yet a broken clock is correct twice a day. We are a nation built on the backs of slaves. And there was a thing about genocide and native Americans. Our government has chosen to prop up sociopathic dictators when it seems politically expedient for US interests. We limited the number of jews allowed to immigrate here while knowing the dangers they faced in Europe. I've worked with people who live with disabilities who's food stamps have been drastically cut as has funding in general, forcing them to live in poverty. Corporations that run these facilities make huge profits on senior care models that drain life savings while providing marginal care. while draining the life savings of residents.One in 6 people live in poverty while a billionaire with the help of his 6,000 employees shoots a rocket with a luxury vehicle into space. People die every day from preventable and treatable illness because they can't get insurance coverage or are denied coverage by their insurers. North Korea stabs their citizens in the front. We stab ours in the back.
3
Everything you write is true. But consider this: Kim Jong Un inherited a vicious, murderous regime that he has made more vicious and murderous. Trump inherited a moral, judicious and effective democracy that he is doing everything he can to permanently besmirch, damage and profit from it. Because North Korea was already a prostrate criminal state when Kim took over, and because there is so much harm to do to a great country, Trump is doing more harm to the USA than Kim is doing to North Korea. So, to the extent that Ivanka enables her father's worst instincts, the comparison of her and Kim's sister is, while unfair and nasty and wrong, not completely crazy.
1
Frank--what about South Korea in this picture. Having visited Seoul many times (including during missile tests by N. Korea), I've never sensed the panic and paranoia that our government and media express. Instead i hear a desire that someday the countries can be united. After all these years of dealing with their other half, can't we assume they know more about the best way to act than our American politicians and media? Yes, North Korea is a bad regime, just like Saddam, and perhaps Iran. But does name-calling, fear-mongering and portraying them as Evil do anything positive? Or does it set the stage for the next war (like Iraq) regional destabilization, and more death and destruction? Oy vey do we ever learn?
3
North Korean state officials expressed alarm to their American counterparts about Donald Trump's behavior. They had never seen anything like it.
"Madman theory" aside, Kim Jong Un is the reasonable one compared to Donald Trump. That is not a reflection on our country, Frank.
1
Trump is a wannabe dictator. He has taken the greatest nation in world history and turned it into his own garbage dump. Ivanka is complicit. She will happily destroy our country for personal gain. It's a difference in degree not kind.
2
I'm not sure what country you live in but it sure isn't the USA. A garbage dump? Why not move somewhere nicer - like North Korea or maybe the leftists dream country Venezuela.
I am very grateful for the sanity and rationality exhibited in this article.
to see journalistic institutions like
CNN gushing over this young woman
is beyond belief.her brother is a
maniacal killer including his own
brother and uncle. he runs gulags
that are as ruthless an any of Stalin's,
according to the few who have survived
them.whether she is complicit in his
horrors or terrified to tell him no,no
American journalists should be treating
her like the second coming of Princess
Diana. dislike of Trump is one thing,
comparing him to the North Korean
butcher is something entirely different.
9
I doubt that the victims of Trump's air strikes appreciate the difference.
1
Agreed: "America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core." But this just underscores that we need to stop our slide. Have the Trumps done anything as reprehensible as the Kims? Of course not. Could they? I'd rather not give them the opportunity to show us.
7
Frank, I'm typically in full alignment with your opinions, but not this time. You're painting Kim and his sister with the same brush. I'd be willing to bet that at least one of your brothers-in-law gets you cranked up at every family gathering, and it takes all of your will power not to explode. But you would never think of exploding at his wife, who's a darling, and who's your sister or the sister of your wife.
I'd also be willing to bet that that Kim Yo-jong is better mannered and more predictable than either Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump, Donald, Jr., Eric Trump, et al. (Thinking about it, that's not even a fair bet.)
For a couple of weeks, "Give Peace A Chance."
4
Glad to see you making the distinction between two tyrants, one in a small empoverished but nuclear-armed nation, the other in the most powerful country on Earth cynically upsetting freedom and justice and peace from within. Of course, we didn't expect much of a moral compass from North Korea's Kim Jon-un, a despot who unhesitatingly goes on murdering anybody with any potential to even criticize his standing. But, short of physically murdering people opposing his malfeasance, crooked lying Trump is an ugly and arrogant ignoramus, intent in destroying this, by now, badly injured democracy, and the cultural values we try to uphold, law and order, with a moral compass he has effectively destroyed: the trust in our institutions and the trust in each other. Kim Jong-un represents a vile dictatorship; Trump, a 'sick' guy unable to focus, always impulsive, distracted by his own vanity and seeking constant applause, who has beaten this democracy into submission by his vile behavior, a clear abuse of power, and seemingly well tolerated, even applauded, by a morally corrupt republican party, and it's propaganda arm, Fox Noise. A rotten moment indeed, not to be confused with a despicable regimen enslaving it's own people honoring a cult of personality; inconceivable, until now, in a free society.
9
I did not find anything wrong with the characterization. I understood it to mean just that: If North Korea had its own IvankaTrump, that is what she would be like. Let's not read more into it.
5
I'm glad you brought this topic up, Frank Bruni "The Ivanka Trump of North Korea? Oh, Please", February 13, 2018
On Twitter today:
"DCIA Pompeo: We should all remember that Kim Jong Un's sister is the head of the “propaganda & agitation department.” Our analysts are concerned that Kim Jong Un is not hearing the facts from his advisors about the "tenuous nature" of his position."
"7:45 AM - 13 Feb 2018"
I retweeted "Oh, really?"
1
I agree completely, and I'm not an Ivanka fan - a tone-deaf headline warning women to behave. Is every young powerful woman trying to make headway in a world controlled by men going to get nicknamed Ivanka? And notwithstanding the serious faults of the Trump administration, we can assume that Ivanka acts voluntarily whereas we have no idea if Kim Yo-Jong is a free agent or perhaps just trying to survive. An absolutely sexist comment, that would not have been made about a man.
4
Bruni talks about "something troubling and important: a tendency - in the media and beyond it - to treat all public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzles." Oh, please! Since when has it ever not been thus?
Everyone screamed bloody murder that the Russians had tampered with the last election, yet all they did was release largely irrelevant innuendo and dirt, the sizzle of which threw the election to Trump. If American voters had any ability to base their decision on anything beyond the screaming headlines of the last news cycle, Hillary would be president today.
Stories about what actually moves the markers in this world make for dull reading. The haircuts, the poise, the demeanor, the kind of handshakes exchanged, the slights and snubs, more parsed than any policy initiatives discussed. Celebrity news sells. The real news doesn't. You get what you pay for.
2
Trump is a would be dictator - Kim is the real deal
Would Trump be as horrible as Kim if put in the same position ? I believe he would.
3
This is why the news media, in particular CNN and MSNBC cannot be taken seriously. The bias of the media is so blatant and obvious they will never be able to regain their credibility. We all know they hate Trump, but they have "Jumped the Shark" with this one.
7
Let us give Kim her due recognition.The sudden turnaround of the dictator and friendly gestures with South Korea should be taken right spirit.It is high time the two Koreas resolve their own issues.The sister of the worlds ' most rouge state really carried out her scripted role to the perfection.Rather Ivanka has to go a long way and she has the support worlds' most powerful democracy .
OMG Frank, Thanks for setting us straight on this. LOL
Given window of opportunity Trump would do everything a North Korean dictator would do and probably worse.
"a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle"
That is precisely how Trump managed to win the Presidency, the media, instead of exposing his flaws, was in awe of the daily train wreck, running across all news cycles, the power of the tweet in uncensored hands...
Thanks to Bruni for once again taking on the excesses, calling out progressives when they cross the line. More of us need to cry foul --- for our own teams.
3
Trump is more dangerous than Kim and is going to be even more dangerous if he gets the billions he wants to build more nukes. Bruni is being stupid here and pathetically, dangerously nationalist. When was America not covering for some rot: Indian removal and genocide; racial slavery; secret wars; black sites.... It is pure fantasy to think that the Trump rot has no relation to things set deep in our own soil.
1
Rotten moment only? I was born in 1943. Here are some exceptional American moments in my lifetime:
1943-45 Innocent Japanese Americans confined in concentration camps.
1945-58 Red Scare, fear mongering, Joe McCarthy and Friends.
1943-70. Savage enforcement of Jim Crow, including lynchings, violence, denial of right to vote.
1943-present. Racial segregation still in force throughout the country by means of housing.
1943-present. Over 1,000,000 Americans shot dead by other Americans.
1960-75 The American War in Vietnam.
1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
2003 American invasion of Iraq, destabilzes most of the Middle East.
2016 Trump.
A lot more going on here than a bad moment....
7
Mr Bruni posits that North Korea is rotten to the core. He's wrong. It's the North Korean regime that's rotten...not the country nor its people. Big difference. Huge difference. Words matter. Let's stop demonizing countries or their people. We ought to be better than that.
1
Trump is bad. Kim is the propaganda minister for a regime that holds public execution for dissidents and sent back the brain dead body of an American that it imprisoned for no reason. There is no comparison.
6
Mr. Bruni is being disingenuous in his attempt to distinguish Ivanka Trump's complicit pandering of Trump "policies" to Americans from Kim Yo-jong's charm offensive on behalf her brother Kim. Not all ugliness is created equal? Forced deportation of parents of American citizens, calculated destruction of American's access to health care, the supporting and legitimizing of hate groups as including "many fine people," demonizing muslim citizens as terrorists, characterizing hispanics as rapists and murderers, refusing to sanction Russia for cyber attacks on our voting system, capped with the overt and public support for domestic abusers and sexual assaulters and thereby contributing to the mental and physical damage women suffer in the US. If this immoral, intellectually bankrupt and temperamental misfit we call a President is not every bit as repulsive and ugly as North Korea's Kim, then Bruni hasn't really been paying attention.
3
Thanks for speaking out on North Korea. I'm afraid the clueless media is so busy making its anti-Trump points that it is totally blind to the tension of the moment - useless nitwits. Sorry to break it to you, but this sort of thing is what got Trump elected in the first place.
7
So sorry, Frank. From the comments I just read, I realize that most readers missed your point. Thank you for pointing out that NO, America is is NKorea. And NO, President Trump is not a lunatic dictator.
4
While I agree with the author about Ivanka, we know TOO much about her, her habits, her family, her lack of morals, we really know nothing, I sure do not, about Kim Yo-jong.
I actually saw more of an insult for her in the comparison. Yes, she is of a dictator's family but do I know what she can actually achieve that may help us all? She may be just as mean and aggressive as her family but then again I always go by the old saying: do not judge someone until you walked a mile in their shoes. And also I do believe in John Lennon's words: Give peace a chance. It may be worth it.
1
Glad I missed all of this.
Wow, just reading the number 2 comment currently, the one that says Trump and Kim Il Jung are equally evil but Trump hasn't had a chance to show it, makes me believe that Trump (and the Electoral College) may well win again.
And in the horrible world of a Trump two term presidency I hope that liberals will finally come to earth instead of believing that 70% of the country is with them.
I'm an Independent. Most Americans are Independent. I think 25% of people are liberals, 25% of people are conservative, and 50% of people are Independent.
Trump is a rich white business guy. His favorite color is green, and he is privileged to the max. Kim is the hereditary dictator of a country that has 300,000 people in concentration camps.
Trump is not as evil as the Kim family. I don't really believe that Trump could blow apart someone with a anti-aircraft cannon. Kim has killed his own kin to retain and expand his power.
I think the attitude that he is as evil as Kim or Hitler shows how crazy a fervor the 25% of Americans who are liberals have reached. It's not healthy to compare Trump to Hitler. Not only is our system designed to prevent Trump from destroying society, but I don't really believe Trump is capable of destroying society. His actions so far seen to display naivete and lack of skill, which to me says he probably isn't planning some grand conspiracy.
5
You mistake how people identify themselves to others with the reality. The reality is that about 45% of people generally vote Democrat and another 45% Republican, most of them voting the way their parents did. The real swing vote...call them independents if you want...is more like 10%.
Agreed, Kim Yo-jong is a brutal dictator who must be condemned on all fronts. But from an historical perspective, except for the terrible suffering he imposes on his people (not to be minimized), decades from now he will be seen as a relatively insignificant actor. In contrast, the Republican Party and their leader Donald Trump may be the most dangerous political force in the world right now, given their relative power and daily actions on national and global levels to destroy democratic governance, pilfer the economic future of our children, and accelerate climate change and environmental destruction of the only planet we have.
1
In reality and in order to prop his regime, Kim needs his large army and nuclear weapons because that is essentially all he has. Trump, on the other hand, is systematically dismantling America's long standing institutions that keep government and business in check and he thumbs his nose at those that question is blatant conflicts of interest, skirts the law and denigrates the media at every opportunity.
For those that think he will not be as brutal as Kim, if he and Republicans are given the opportunity, just wait to see the results of what will happen to especially the poor and elderly when they complete their "hatchet job" on medicare, medicade and social security.
1
Does anyone really believe that the poor woman was not doing exactly what her brother ordered her to do? She knew she was probably being watched and the number of smiles were tabulated somewhere back in the North. If you were in her shoes, what would you have done?
Comparisons to Ivanka are snide at best. At least Ivanka knows she can do no wrong by her father. In North Korea, Ms Kim probably awakens every morning relieved and thankful knowing she has made it through another day.
Does there appear to be something odd about Kim Jong Un's stance? Why are the people on either side of him, holding on to him?
1
Kim Jong un is a short pudgy man. No wonder the people are starving in North Korea. He hoards all the food for himself. Is an ugly ugly man.
"Both young women attempt to put a pretty, pert face on a clan — and a government"
I do not have any problem with the sentiment expressed above, except for calling Ivanka Trump "pretty"! I invite you to have a look at her pictures when she was a teenager; that is, before undergoing massive plastic surgeries. Call me old fashion, but to me the use of the word "pretty" is justified only when one speaks of "natural beauty".
What right did we have to butt into Korea's civil war, Frankie? Suppose a foreign country had sent troops to our land on the side of the South in our civil war?
1
You are seriously understimating the diabolical effect Trump has had on America, with Ivanka being one of his closest enablers. To think this buys you some credibility is plan stilly, Frank. Frank Rich would never have stooped to such depths.
You're kidding, right? America has been a rogue state since the invasion of Iraq.
The insanity and mania about Trump and his family is scary and thanks to Mr. Bruni for pointing it out. The Left's worship of North Koreas's evil dictatorship and its agents is scary though reminiscent of the Left's worship of Mao, Lenin, Castro, Chavez. Why would the media dare compare Ivanka, a free American woman entrepreneur who has the freedoms to travel, learn, work with a woman who's family has murdered thousands of people, starved his entire population and has shown interest in continuing and maybe using his nuclear technology to create war. Please AMerican media - stop the hatred and start being responsible. There's no comparing these 2 women or the 2 nations that they represent.
6
About those military parades that NK holds ever so often....we're going to have those to. And how about the NK constant boasting of their nuclear capability....guess what we have a 'bigger nuclear button'. And I am sure Ivanka agrees.....
"a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle."
I agree with you Mr. Bruni, but this is an additional consequence of Donald Trump making politics and the world his realtiy show. He is certainly not Kim Jong Un, thankfully for the US and the world, but Kim is no Trump when it comes to reality shows.
Headlines in hungry publications linking Ivanka Trump to Kim Jong-un deserve Frank Bruni's scorn. We can't overstate the danger presented by North Korea, and trivializing that danger by linking Ivanka Trump to the sinister machinations of the menacing North Korean delegation is hazardous to our national welfare.
But that seems to be almost ingrained in our present culture. Focus on the flash-bangs, the hair styles, the clothes, and not on our own "supreme" leader pushing legislation robbing us of national parks, clean air, fair taxes, safe roads, and on and on. We need to keep in mind that we are not immune to the rottenness of N. Korea, and if we don't make changes in Washington, we may be heading in that direction.
4
Does Mr. Bruni not read the Times? Did he not see the budget blueprint that trump released this week, which would gut America pushing us closer to being a third world country? Did he not see that trump is pushing the Pentagon to hold a Kim Jong Un-ish military parade where lots of soldiers would be forced to salute him? Did he not see trump's tweets threatening to unleash nuclear Armageddon on the world? Did he not see trump's comments about the U.S. needing a good attack (his own burning of the Reichstag moment) to unite people behind him? Did he not hear trump call the opposition party "treasonous" for NOT CLAPPING for him?
The U.S. has more power, not the moral high ground. Our economy is too entwined in the fate of the world economy for the world to impose the kind of sanctions that trump's actions merit, but that doesn't mean that what trump is doing is really all that different from what Kim Jong Un is doing.
2
Remember folks, this is North Korea we are talking about. The country that has publicly threatened to nuke the U.S. The country that has 200,000, or so, in concentration camps, the country that starves its citizens, the country that has shot down a civilian aircraft, whose president had relatives poisoned and killed with an anti aircraft gun, who tortured and killed an American college student, a country that tests its rockets over Japan, who shoots at people who try to flee, and more. People’s hatred of Trump is warping their judgement. Keep it up and he will get re-elected, numerous warts and all.
31
Robert.....hmmm. the usa has nuked a country, it has invaded and backed invasions of many countries since ww2, it has more inmates--many poor and black, it has the poorest poor people of any western democracy, it shot down an innocent Iranian passenger jet, tortured many people at gitmo and god knows where else, taken people off the streets in other countries, cops have shot countless people who have been innocent, puts people to death legally--unlike any western democracy. i'm not sure it's only north korea we're talking about.
2
Robert, you should remember. We have publicly threatened to "nuke" them and many others for decades. We have incarcerated millions of Americans of color, often (usually?) unjustly. We have the highest rate of poverty and hunger in the developed world. We have tortured and killed suspected spies and terrorists in secret and not-so-secret (Guantanamo) locations around the planet. We test our rockets and military might within a few miles of North Korea's sovereign borders.
Are we as bad as the North Koreans? Not yet, but with Trump it won't be for lack of trying.
For crying out loud. Take off the rose-colored glasses and hold us up to your mirror.
Trump has threatened to nuke other countries, and we're the only country that ever has.
We have a grotesque number of prisoners, reflecting racism and wealth inequality more than any other reason.
We shot down a civilian airliner over the Persian Gulf.
We have tortured, killed, and overthrown countless political enemies all over the world, directly and by proxy, often for no higher purpose than corporate greed.
We test and deploy our obscene arsenal of WMDs wherever we choose.
Your clinging to the fantasy of US moral exceptionalism is clouding your judgment.
Bottom line is the Kim family won round 1 of PR war that is often part of The Olympics.
The Kims sent a charming sister. The US sent curmudgeons Pence and Mother Pence. It matters not, in this case, what Ms. Kim's background is, how brutal members of her family are or whether she was forced to attend.
It was obviously calculated that Yo-Jong's innocent looks and mild demeanor would attract positive media. And it did.
The Trump administration miscalculated. (as usual) The current VP (or any administration member) will NEVER attract positive media on a world-stage. That should have been obvious to staff. I doubt Ivanka will either.
Maybe finally getting a South Korean Ambassador in place would help with the diplomatic Korean battle the US is currently losing.
24
How about Victor Cha? Seems qualified and he has security clearance. Oh, but he is smart, so Trump rules him out.
1
Let’s just make sure we don’t give Trump the opportunity to act on his worst impulses. A lot of successful people in business and politics are sociopaths. Better here than in North Korea.
2
But Donald Trump is something like Kim Jong-un
6
As Mr. Bruni mentions, the Great Leader (Trump) himself claimed the US, and by extension himself, is at the same moral level as Putin. What aspect of Trump makes Mr. Bruni believe Trump is better than he himself claims to be?
The difference between Kim Jun-un and Trump is one of circumstance and opportunity, not morality.
3
Which one is the 'rogue' state?
4
The one that murders its citizens for dissent. Not the United States.
3
"Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous."
I agree. But unfortunately, "the resistance" in our country doesn't see it that way. Rather, the Trump administration is evil incarnate, and must be ridiculed and opposed at every turn.
So we have the New York Times running a headline near the top of its home page, pretty much all weekend long, telling us that Kim's cousin "upstaged" Mike Pence with her smile. Really glad that I have a subscription to the Times, so I can have access to such insightful analysis.
5
Bruni writes: "But there can be no mistake: America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
While I don't equate Trump with Kim, I do suspect that "our rotten moment" is a symptom of a much deeper rot. Three decades of oligarchic economic policy and exhortations to the working and middle classes to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps while eliminating the bootstraps (e.g. good schools, affordable college education) and slashing the social safety net as opportunity dries has soured a broad swath of the American electorate on democracy and even on their fellow Americans. (Remember Romney's "47% and Ryan's "moral tipping point" nonsense?) The political servants of the well-heeled help them lock in their advantages with tax reductions on capital gains and high incomes, elimination of the estate tax, gerrymandering, voter suppression, reduction of regulation intended to protect the weak, and so on and so on. To that add three decades of talk-radio, Fox, Brietbart, and InfoWars hysteria and a mainstream media that for just as long seems to have regarded false equivalence (but those emails, those emails...) as the height of journalistic sophistication and you've got fertile soil for demagogues. Plato and Aristotle predict it, Weimar, post-WWI Italy, and others bear it out.
I hope Mr Bruni is right, that this is for the U.S. but a rotten "moment." I fear though that the rottenness, while not of the N. Korean variety, is on the verge of permanence.
12
On Trump’s reality show you get fired. On Kim’s you get assassinated. That said, the only thing America and the PRK have in common is that they end with an “a.”
8
Anyone who knows even a little bit about North Korea, its history, and the depravity of the Kim dynasty, knows that comparing that country to ours, that leader to ours (even Trump), or Yo-jung to Ivanka, is preposterous, even bizarre. I've been disgusted by the coverage of the so-called "charm offensive" and the comparisons to our country. What is WRONG with some of the people who hate Trump so much? I think he's the worst president of my lifetime and maybe ever, but he's not going to send us to prison camps, or starve us, or electrocute us, or cut off our fingers, or kill our parents in front of us. Get a grip folks. Vote in the midterms, throw him out in 2020. Dare I say we'll survive? (How boring would that be, though, right?)
23
I think the point is that Trump doesn’t do these things because our system is different and has so far prevented them, not because he wouldn’t so such things to his perceived enemies.
I don’t “hate” Trump; I am simply disgusted by him.
1
Hoping for a medal, this poorly executed attempt at character assignation via journalistic hubris slinks to new lows. Surprising perhaps is that the NY Times would print this dribble and expects so little of its lockstep editorial staff, but then again this is now par for the course: a one trick pony unable to scale the lowest rail.
Mr. Bruni, your ticket for Pyongyang has been punched. Please keep us abreast of the marvels encountered with those of like perspectives.
2
Is a "rogue" state one that gets voted 180-2 in the UN? that unilaterally seeks to sink the Paris environment accord? that uses a fake NGO (National Endowment for Democracy) to finance political movements in foreign countries? that engages in a new stage of nuclear proliferation (not numbers, but technological types)? that cheerfully bombs, drones, sanctions third countries without international authorization?
Gee whiz, sounds an awful lot like...
24
Wow, Frank, the people don’t like what you’re saying. This is exactly the hyper partisan stuff the article is about.
10
The equivalency between Kim Yojong and Ivanka Trump is fully appropriate. Trump’s family has only been in power one year, is already causing death in Puerto Rico, and already has its secret police (ICE). The Trumps’ evil is clear.
8
"North Korea is rotten to the core."
Given that why didn't Mr. and Mrs. Pence put on a charm offensive? Don't they realize that they represent the best country in the world? To sit there with those frozen faces was grossly disrespectful to the US.
23
Honestly, I cannot think of many more public figures less suited to putting on a "charm offensive" than that couple.
1
Bruni is absolutely right, when he says, "But not all ugliness is created equal, Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un, the United States is nothing like North Korea and to come anywhere near that suggestion is nuts. Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous." The fact that Bruni believes such even needs to be said is truly a sad, though correct, observation on his part. As Times comments amply demonstrate, many Americans have little, if any, appreciation of the fact that they live in a country where they can safely publicly equate Trump and Kim.
As to why Trump got elected, it has less to do with his possible collusion with Russia than with another observation Bruni makes: "Both... touch on something troubling and important: a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle." And at that, Trump clearly stands above his opposition.
209
Let me make this PERFECTLY clear: The United States is NOT to be judged by the standards of other nations. BY CHOICE, we are to be judged by how well we live up to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are to be judged by our OWN promise of democracy. By that measure, our own, one can't help but be morally deflated. What good accrues to the United States because it's "better" than North Korea, or Russia? If I could, I'd move to Finland in a heartbeat. The US is far from being the best; and, it's declining.
6
Once again, Frank Bruni nails it with his clear, concise and lucid rendering of the world as we know it. If only politicians had the same moral compass as he has...
and the same guts to always speak the truth. And he is right about America being in a "rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
3
Feel free to pack your bags and head for Finland if you so choose. As an American, you have that right. I’m certainly not in the pro-Trump camp, but I believe this nation can survive his administration and learn from the experience. Our constitution provides us such robust freedoms that I have no doubt we will continue to lead the world economically and politically for the foreseeable future. There’s no place I’d rather live.
amerika is not a rogue state?
3
Make no mistake, Donald Trump is exactly like Kim Jong-un. The fact that Trump has not poisoned and executed his rivals is only because the US is not like North Korea, for the time being.
Were this North Korea, Hillary Clinton and Robert Muller would be dead, and so would I, for writing this critique.
9
When Trump:
* Executes his relatives to make sure his hold on power is absolute
* Seizes power over all branches of the US Government
* Allows his people to starve as a global negotiating point
* Executes people publicly for sometimes minor infractions
* Intentionally shoots down S. Korean civilian airliners
* Intentionally attacks S. Korean commercial ships
* Transfers WMD technology to rogue organizations around the world in order to raise hard currency
Then, and only then, can you compare Trump to Kim.
Your hatred is making you crazy....
19
All great points. But sadly, by then it will be too late to do anything about it.
I think people are really losing an objective view of reality. I'm never going to say not be vigilant, cease to confront injustices, etc.
However, people must really think Trump has superhuman powers to achieve that list. He's a bad President and some of his policies do hurt people.
That doesn't mean a false equivalence to the proven evil conduct of the Kim regime is even remotely coherent.
1
You imply that it is Trump’s morals that prevent these things. It’s not. It’s not hatred, it’s his words and tweets.
1
The only reason president "little hands" isn't as bad as "rocket man" is because we still have some laws and human decency left. In case you haven't noticed, trump is actively trying to become more like Putin and rocket man. He admires them both. And trump's daughter is as evil as he is. That apple fell straight down and didn't roll far.
7
I find the description of Otto Warmbier's situation is rather distasteful ("expired meat").
5
Um, Mr. Bruni - WE are the ones living in “a rogue state run by a homicidal fanatic.” I guarantee to you that if you survey the world there are a lot more people who fear for their lives at the hands of our president than those of Kim Jong Un. It is the highest responsibility of those left in this country who still have the right to call themselves journalists to lay bare the evil, the destruction, the corruption in OUR government rather than to waste our time on the political intrigues of North Korea, the latest excuse to hand another blank check to the military industrial complex.
3
Did you proofread -carefully- what you wrote before posting it, Frank? As someone too often guilty of failing to do so, I wonder.
To this Commentor, Pence does exist on no higher a plane than does Kim Yo-jong, and quite arguably, not even that high. What's more damning is that Pence was not born, did not come of age, nor was schooled in the forced rigidity of North Korea. No, he chose to chose to slip this collar of Trump obeisance around his own neck, of his own volition...and greed...for fame and power.
Kim Yo-jong may not be innocent; Pence is guilty as hell.
8
Are you sure North Korea is rotten to the core? What if it’s maybe just rotten at the top? It’s not just like us, but it is analogous; isn’t it?
2
No, it's not.
3
The distinction between the two is subtle: Kim Yo-Jong represents a rogue state. Ivanka Trump represents a rogue.
3
Don't confuse a rogue state with a pack of rogues.
2
How far is the journey from rotten in the moment to rotten to the core?
2
America is a rogue state in its own way. We are the only one that is not part of the Paris Accord, to name one example.
2
They're both evil, self-serving people standing with evil self-serving rulers. The comparison is apt.
4
Kim Jong Un's sister and Ivanka Trump actually have a lot in common: 1.) They're both related to egomaniacs; 2.) They both live in countries capable of starting a nuclear war; 3.) They both have now used the world stage on behalf of their regimes (yes, I'm now referring to the Trump government as a "regime"); and 4.) They are both citizens of countries who desperately want a change in leadership.
9
The majority of the US is happy with US leadership. Speak for yourself. I'll take the taxcut, I'll take the crackdown on illegal immigrants, I'll take the infrastructure deal!
1
[ ] who gleefully threatens to nuke other countries
1
Ivanka is far far worse. Her actions are not forced by a dictator, she goes willingly. Kim Jong-un openly plays a charm offensive without deceit that it is anything else. Ivanka fakes sincerity about women's rights, falls in line behind her father as women are trampled before her, even though there is no dictator threatening death or lifetime imprisonment.
Yes, Ivanka is far far worse. Kim Jong-un has no democracy to give her choice. Ivanka has freedom to prove herself, yet fails every time.
2
Some of the NYT readership as reflected in their comments are blinded by hate. I did not vote for him and I am no fan of his, but Trump is not Kim-Jong-un. Trump has many unpleasant characteristics to be sure, and his policies are hardily consistent or in any way progressive, but he is not the monster that the leader of North Korea is. It simply is ignorance to say that if Trump could act with impunity, he would do the same as Kim-Jong-un. Kim has ordered the death of thousands and he runs the most oppressive country since the Third Reich. His people are starving, He is planning to launch against the US. Prior presidents in both parties let this country develop nuclear weapons. Kim and his father and his father have manipulated us and Kim is, right now, with the Olympics charade. And, mIssed in your article is his execution of his own uncle. He had him blown to bits with an anti-air craft battery. Kim is a stone cold psychopath. Trump actually is normal by comparison.
6
America is not rotten to the core but is rotten at parts of the core.
The Trumpo administration, its GOP enablers in Congress, state media represented by Foxy News, and all the alt right billionaires pushing disinformation enabled by Citizens United are the rot.
It’s spread to 35% of the electorate.
The 2018 elections will determine if the rot continues to spread.
For light reading on how this all works I suggest The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. History has an interesting way of repeating itself.
1
Would North Korea allow comments criticizing Kim Jong-un, their brutal director, on a comment board like they are doing here. Oh wait. They do not even allow Internet access in North Korea for their citizens so they couldn't condemn this monster even if they were given the chance.
We have so many freedoms and opportunities in America that the North Koreans can only dream about. Their people are dying because they live under a regime that is governed by a maniac who will kill anyone in an instant. They do not have enough to eat and if not murdered by this ruthless madman will die of starvation.
Look what they did to that young college student, Otto Warmbier, when he stole a propaganda poster. He was imprisoned for 17 months and tortured terribly for doing what most Americans would have considered a youthful prank. Not over there. He came home and died a few days later. His poor parents had to bury their young son who should never in a million years been treated so inhumanely.
Kim yo Jong and Ivanka Trump are two totally different women. Kim yo Jong is as guilty as her brother in the execution of North Koreans and is not at all concerned with helping other women. She would kill them too if necessary. Ivanka Trump is not liked by the liberal leftists so they find fault with her at every turn. If I had to be alone with just one of them, it would be Ivanka Trump. Kim yo Jong would scare me to death. Literally.
5
You know......
I know a bit about North Korea as I am fascinated by the topic. I have read several first hand accounts---most notably the excellent The Girl With Seven Names (required reading for all!).....but I have also read accounts by teachers who have taught there and other survivors. I have zero illusions about this regime. They are brutal. They are repressive beyond belief. They are murderers and they have rendered a great number of people unequipped to ever live in the modern world. They are that misinformed, undereducated and unequipped.
But what is going to change things? What's it going to take?
The way I look at it--and perhaps I am naive--is like this: The Kim family is between a rock and a hard place. Their little tactics are no longer working worldwide. In fact, they have their fat little fingers on a dam that is going to burst sooner or later. Up to now, they've held everyone hostage with their antics but now thanks to that buffoon Trump, he's actually and rightfully scared. (God, I can't believe I am giving Trump any credit for anything. However, if he wasn't utterly nuts, I am not sure we would be here.)
So if you are Kim, what do you see? Your tricks are no longer working. Someone has finally met your crazy with crazy of their own. What plays are left? Is there a peaceful way out that modernizes Korea but still allows the Kim to live? I don't know--maybe they are setting the stage to negotiate a transition into something else.
Here is hoping.
2
I think the point has already been made, but I think the difference is that Kim's sister had no choice in the matter.
Ivanka does have choices and she has chosen to be an enabler to the doings of her father
And why is she going to the Oympics . And who is paying for it ?
Let me guess
8
So she is from North Korea. Do we know if she employs child labor? Pretends to care about equal rights for women and lies frequently about it? Has access to classified material without a security clearance? Coveted by her father? A long ways to go to be Ivanka.
5
Frank Bruin is right. The Kim family is evil. But it is currently kicking the Current Occupant's trump. What will we do if North Korea establishes trade relations with the South? I can't imagine a worse disaster.
Trump has the blurring wel under control, it is the only thing he is any good at.
We live in a brave, new world when our first reaction is "Thank you, BuzzFeed."
Frank
I don't think you get it.
Everyone worldwide expects North Korean to be boorish , so when Kim Yo-jong shows up polite and well behaved to a world activity, she, and by extension, North Korea get marks.
By contrast when the VP of our "Greatest Democracy on Earth" turns up dour and boorish to the same event and does nothing to change the world opinion of our own esteemed leader he deservedly gets marked down.
RW
5
Corruption may go both ways here, hence a comparison.
Don't forget Donny pardoned Arpaio, who tortured prisoners to death. I doubt he thought about it for a second.
Donny is willing to let US citizens languish in Puerto Rico without help and blame them for the infrastructure problems the Jones Act makes worse than necessary.
Donny is willing to let our citizens die of starvation and for the lack of medical care. Not so different.
I don't see much daylight between Donny and Kim. It's the other parts of our government that make our country a better place to be.
1
If Pence doesn't like it, just pray it away. Or lump it.
Yes, there are degrees of evil and so far, Trump et al, have not murdered anyone. However, Trump will lie about attacking and assaulting women, possibly even raping women, has stated he would throw his political opponent in jail and has instructed followers to punch others at political rallies. So he is pretty darn rotten.
A president who could not get a Security Clearance as a White House employee has no business being President.
1
Yes, we're talking about a state that has disrespected all others except for those few that will cater to its parochial desires; a state that prioritizes military spending over taking care of its citizens; food aid is cut in order to boost it's isolation from its neighbors that don't respect its values. It's a state that has continued to invest immense amounts in its nuclear program despite other economic needs. It's leadership holds its own ethnicity as superior to others.
Oh, that's the US under Trump - sorry, were you talking about some other country?
Yes, we have "elections" that the foreign allies of "the leader" disrupts and are pre-determined in many highly gerrymandered regions; we have "civil rights" in our laws and "constitution", but "the leader" ignores those with impunity, with the support of his rubber-stamp legislature.
We're still talking about the US.
I'm sure we have some sacred institutional advantage that will keep the US from becoming a bigger, wealthier version of any autocratic state. Let me know what they are - I'd be happy to learn of them.
2
one is a democratically elected leader. the other is the current leader of a dictatorial despotic dynasty within a hermit kingdom. if one does not like Trump one should make sure he is voted out in the next election. in the meantime we should honour the choice of those americans who voted for him fairly. thank you
5
Nope
2
Thank you for some reality Frank.
2
America is rotten. So is North Korea too - rotten. Let's not get hotty - totty here. So Ivanka wears designer clothes, looks pretty and stands in for her father who likes the company of the likes of Sisi, Duterte, Saudi Arabia and our arch enemy, Russia who has now become enemy #1. They are all Human Rights violators of the extreme kind. And Trump has vowed to blow up the Korean Peninsula with the bigger red button he has. And Kim's sister represents her brother who is a tyrant, a human rights violator too. Maybe, she owns no designer clothes or make-up. Both of them are nothing but masks. If Kim's sister shot a deadly glance at Pence, Pence did not stand up for the Korean team either. He insulted his host. Sorry Frank, I beg to differ. It is just the black kettle calling the pot black.
This is a good written piece for when NYT will have to defend its journalism.
I find it strange though you feel in a strange position. There's nothing strange. It's okay to disagree with a fellow American over policy or delivery. It's not okay to exaggerate, ignore, stretch facts on the Kim regime, just to oppose Trump. That's lunacy, something the mainstream media is actively engaging in. Liberals have lost my vote this way.
We don't know Kim Yo-jong's inner thoughts either. Is she a willing participant to the atrocities or trapped by her brother's brutality? Or a sense of obligation to do evil just to keep the regime collapsing and worse things happening? No one's talked to her, no one knows, so who knows? Let's not make quick assumptions.
The fact that she's unknown, draws the media to her, but media shouldn't glorify her. Also I think mainstream media and liberal outlets are out of touch about how South Koreans (the ones who have a more important say in this issue) really feel about NK? Just cause liberal outlets disagree with South Koreans, doesn't mean you ignore them just to push your own domestic agenda onto others.
4
do not confuse the difference between a rogue state and a bananna republic
1
Definitely not Ivanka Trump. She's more like Eva Braun.
1
"In doing her brother’s bidding, Kim Yo-jong is airbrushing a dictator who authorizes public executions that, according to defectors, must be watched by all adult citizens" . . .
Believe they also do this in Saudi Arabia; "President" Trump is apparently a fan of the kingdom.
Ah, Frank: Your attempt to be "fair and balanced." As others have suggested, if Trump had Kim's power, he would sooner slit your throat than to plunge the knife into a roast chicken. Ivanka would gladly serve as his propaganda chief.
I don't think the South Koreans were taken in by Kim Yo-jong's so-called charm offensive. I would describe their reaction as curious, and why wouldn't they be? She is the first member of the brutal Kim family to venture south of the DMZ. Her visit to South Korea and her return home revealed a lot of useful information about her brother's thinking. What purpose would have been served if South Korea's Moon had treated Kim Yo-jong and the other members of her group shabbily? South Korea's unspoken message to the North was, "We are free and well-fed and happy." Everywhere the North Korean delegation went they were confronted with South Korea's success. It doesn't get any better than that.
"Both French’s complaint and the BuzzFeed News article touch on something troubling and important: a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle."
That's right, Frank Bruni. Many of the readers of this paper already know this about journalists. Unfortunately, people at your paper, and in your profession more broadly, did an atrocious job of reporting the news for years leading up to November 2016. My hope is that your bosses read what you've written here. They are the ones who seem to need convincing regarding the deficiencies of what is reported as news.
2
It seems that there is real fear by Mr. Bruni that there will be steps taken toward the unification of Korea. A unified Korea with a degree of Northern autonomy would soon be the world's third largest economy. It would also protect some degree of authority by the North's vicious regime. Of course there is a sense of unredeemed atrocity in that prospect. But there is also the avoidance of the nuclear catastrophe that Mr. Trump would impose to glorify himself. Mr. Bruni seems to believe that there is some way to shatter the North without the vast loss of life. It is revealing that he does not describe this route. The Olympics held out a vision of Korean unification outside of Trump's influence, Bruni may not like this but in the end the Korean people and not the US is entitled to make this decision.
2
Oh Frank...oh Frank. Last week you were treasonous. This week you've put a Kim Jong-un bullseye on yourself. You need to start thinking about witness protection dude. (I will miss your columns.)
I don't usually agree with Bruni, but he's got it exactly right.
Kim Yo-jong is complicit with a mass murderer. Ivanka is complicit with a peeping-Tom and sexual assaulter. (though not a credibly accused rapist).
5
Recall that Korea was divided into the north and the south due to the international forces at play during the cold war, the result of which the people of both the north and the south continue to suffer dearly to this day. No matter how grotesque it looks to an American eye, I am just grateful that the tension has been reduced substantially. Everyone desperately wants to avoid war, including the dictator in North Korea. In that sense, we are all in the same boat. The dictator inherited the system from his grandfather and his father, and he is trying to manage what he had inherited. And it seems he is capable of learning and adapting for his own survival. Perhaps he may eventually be able to transform the system into a better one without a war, with the help from the south, who knows? He is only thirty something, after all. Just grateful to see that they look human, finally.
1
OK, you've identified a problem. Now what? What would you have us do to improve the world? War is guaranteed to be no improvement, embargoes seem to strengthen the target regime, we tried bribery with the Agreed Framework, and assassination is un-American and unreliable. We can't trust them and they don't trust us. so where is the path to a world with North Korea as an acceptable neighbor? Should just admit we've screwed up and get out of the way?
1
Assassination is the best choice in a situation like this. So long as it succeeds.
One of them is a pathetic, coddled nincompoop.... the other is Korean...
27
Frank Bruni: finally, a voice of sanity in the wilderness!
11
For the cadre that defines itself as the epitome of human enlightenment and thus the only class fit to rule outraged by the "deplorable" outcome of the last election we are indeed in a "rotten moment."
There's an election this coming November in which the entire House of Representatives and one third of the Senate will stand. Two years following, the same proportion of Congress and the President will be up for grabs.
As for N. Korea…
3
Yes, but that doesn't mean a con man won't transform into a tyrant. They both possess the same qualities. Money family, insecurity and contempt for rational democracy.
9
Both are scions of rogues and rogue houses.
6
So you group communists with conservatives. That’s quite a trick. Well so long they aren’t Democrats, they are all evil.
3
One parent is a dictator, the other one is a dictator-wannabe. Both families have sordid histories and obviously family one history is worse than the other. This has nothing to do with parties, but if you want a Democratic rogue, there is no better example than former president Bill Clinton, although Clinton didn't seem to have ambitions to be a dictator. His (Clinton's) morality and treatment of women is certainly on par with the current White House occupant.
I think though dost protest too much. There actions may be somewhat different but the principals are exactly the same. And that goes for their female relatives as well.
2
In this article Mr. Bruni seems trying to be more catholic than the Pope. The social and/or political ascent of Balkan adventuresses who landed in the US, and their subsequent body issue, has nothing to do with the barbaric regime of North Korea.
As someone who lived for a few years as far North as you can get in South Korea, I agree. At the same time the sense that the government and the people are two completely different elements in society had been laid bare by the current administration in the U.S. Whereas my friends in South Korea travelled for hours to discover that they had already voted in the late 70s in Korea, now, old friends question whether we are approaching the turning point where Democracy fails. I wish it was not true, but there is so much of the past year that resonates with those of us who have lived in military dictatorships.
1
Ivanka was raised and educated in America and has had every privilege and opportunity imaginable, including traveling the globe and meeting with the world's most talented and celebrated people. She is not operating under duress and should certainly know better. Her parents may not have set much of an example, but neither they nor her siblings are known (mass) murderers, and others have overcome shakier starts to find their moral compass.
I can't say the same for Kim Yo-jong.
1
Maybe Ivanka simply loves and respects her father; maybe she agrees with him politically! Trump is not a dictator who took over in a military coup -- he was ELECTED by the same Constitutional method as all other Presidents! He is not a murderer. He not torturing people in political prisons. It is utterly absurd to compare the two men (or two women)! except as an exercise in "Trump bashing".
1
I find, EVERYTHING, about your article RUDE and beyond the basic courtesy which must be accorded our neighbors, no matter. Shame on you. You are the Ugly American.
BTW, America is a Continent or two-US is a better fit.
Some 30 years ago, at the height of Indo-Pak tension, then Pakistan President (or really CMLA) General Zia-Ul-Haq decided to visit India to cheer Pakistan in an India vs Pakistan cricket patch!!
While the Federal govt reception was cool but he was accorded all the pomp of a head of state. The state govt wanted to give the host an elephant ride to the cricket grounds but the security shot it down!
Like Kim he did also went over the heads of govt officilas and connected to the media. He too, like Kim, was the darling of the Media.
In the East there is a saying, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer:.
Mr. Bruni is confusing reportage on the intense interest of the South Korean people in Ms. Kim with the fawning coverage usually associated with a figure from pop culture. If they're doing their work honestly, the press has no choice but to portray the excitement in South Korea over Ms. Kim's visit and the hope it brings (even if it is a false hope). That doesn't preclude adding depth to the coverage, to remind readers and viewers all, of the murderous Kim regime and the prison-like state it controls.
2
There have been various stories that Kim has trouble walking and standing, and that he has used a cane on various occasions. This photo seems to bolster those past stories, as it shows both his sister and the man to his left holding his hand or arm, probably to keep him steady.
For the Democrat left, there is no difference between Trump's American and North Korea.
6
Many comments here and elsewhere, state the US is the worst place on earth -- nothing but warmongers monsters who have dropped nuclear bombs on innocents (for no reason) and also started numerous wars (for no reason). This is actually pretty popular hard-left position --- I remember people stating this when I was in college, and that was a good 40 years ago.
Strangely, these folks never do what they promise, which is to pack up and go live in some lefty paradise -- Sweden or Venezuela or Cuba or North Korea.
1
Please tell us the last time North Korea took offensive action against another country, you could do the same for Iran, another so called "Rogue Nation". Then provide a list of all of the offensive military actions the US has taken against sovereign nations since WWII.
2
Why has teh MSM gone ga-ga over Kim Jong-un's sister? They say she's "the darling" of the Olympics, etc.
GAG
Has the media conveniently forgotten how Jong-un brutalizes his people? still has Americans in prison? tortured Otto Warmbier and finally shipped him here to die? threw his own uncle to dogs to tear him apart? threatens nuclear war? sets off missiles?
Yet the media praise Jong-un's sister.
Totally sick and depraved.
And you wonder why the media's reputation is toast.
Although there are commenters here who also seemingly worship Kim Yo-jong. Of course, they are also clueless as to why Trump won. Can't cure stupid.
6
Stupid as it sounds....the media just goes gaga over a new pretty face.
Actual moral conscience or character....accomplishments...none of that matters, if you are pretty and young and "new around here".
1
I completely agree with Mr. Bruni; compared to Kim Jong-un and his murderous regime Trump is not even on the same playing field. Any comparisons are ridiculous.
However, the real story seems to me that we actually have to reach as low as this pathetic monster to make Trump look good. Yes, he is no Kim Jong-un - but is that really something to boast about? American Presidents used to aim a little higher than to look good compared to a psychopathic mass murderer. It is a pretty sad state of things that this is where the bar is now...
5
I fail to see the family resemblance. Come to think of it, in either case either. It’s a stupid language.
But can she " design " clothes and accessories? Now, THAT is important, for branding. And think of all the FREE labor: prisoners. And the, literally, captive market. " Little Sister Clothing ". Love it, or else.
2
How is that relevant? and Ivanka had a business going long before her father ran or won the Presidency!
It's not clothing or shoes that I would ever buy myself, but I am not the target customer base.
If anything, Ivanka's business has suffered since her father was elected as many stores dropped her line and many customers who might have bought a pair of "Ivanka shoes" today see boycotting her brand as expressing disdain for HER FATHER.
I disagree with the column. No I am not offended at all by the comparison.
Both women serve the same purpose: to cover up the ugliness of the regime, one for the father and the other for the brother. We are not comparing the US to N Korea though both "leaders" are evil. We are comparing their enablers.
6
Kim Jo-jong. Ivanka Trump. Both complicit.
3
While I agree that N Korea is reprehensible in every way you state, I still believe that being compared to Ivanka trump is the ultimate insult to a woman.
3
I remember Ivanka making a distinction her business and "my father's politics".
It's not his politics, but his evil that concerns me, I would tell her.
3
Bruni is absolutely right, when he says, "But not all ugliness is created equal, Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un, the United States is nothing like North Korea and to come anywhere near that suggestion is nuts. Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous." The fact that Bruni believes such even needs to be said is truly a sad, though correct, observation on his part. As Times comments amply demonstrate, many Americans have little, if any, appreciation of the fact that they live in a country where they can safely publicly equate Trump and Kim.
As to why Trump got elected, it has less to do with his possible collusion with Russia than with another observation Bruni makes: "Both... touch on something troubling and important: a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle." And at that, Trump clearly stands above his opposition.
4
Oh dear!
Frank Bruni has an access agenda.
He cannot reasonably count on a scoop from Kim Yo-jong. So he fawns on Ivanka Tump as being s-o-o-o superior.
Earth to Frank.
Both of these women are scripted all the way down.
And you are a celebrity dazed columnist if you think anything different.
What? Ivanka Trump is going to come out and say that Donald Trump is the most egregious mistake in the history of the US presidency since Andrew Jackson?
No she's not, nor is Kim-yo Jong going to dis Kim Jong-il in any way shape or form.
What, she wants to be tied to a cannon and be blown to smithereens like the last guy who even implied that?
Grow up Frank. You're in the big leagues now, where celebrity journalism à la Maureen Dowd no longer cuts it.
12
The Ivanka comparison was generally inane. However, no one knows how much more horrible DT would be if he had the power of KJ-u. In any case, they definitely have more in common than their quieter female relatives. As for Pence and KY-j, no one can know for sure whether they exist on the same level, though they do both stand dumbly behind their respective despicable leaders. Though he may have just been acting rudely like someone raised in an Indiana barn, Pence just appeared weak and afraid of the sister.
3
To me he appears dishonest and hypocritical. This was the second instance when Pence has politicized an athletic event, at the same time as he pretends so hard to be a good sport and above pettiness. The first time was a carefully orchestrated walk out of a football game, when some players knelt during the National Anthem. He's not some noble, wizened, being, but another clown with a bag of cheap stunts.
3
In addition to what Mr. Bruni said, my guess is that Kim Yo-jong is probably smarter than Ivanka?
3
Yes, it's an insult to every USA citizen and USA person North Korea has killed.
I saw a news clip the other night about how heavily guarded the North Korean competitors in the Commonwealth Games are, and the news anchor suggested maybe so they couldn't defect. Then it went on to show a judo instructor who had defected and he said the participants would be too scared to defect, as North Korea would punish their families and send them to the coal mine to work. The Judo Instructor said that when he lost at the first international games he went to, North Korea sent him down the coal mine to work, as punishment, and when they decided to send him again he defected and his whole family were sent down the coal mine to work; including his mother and some of his family died.
North Korea is an evil nation who makes a mockery of civilisation and how a civilised society should behave. By letting North Korea participate in any International games just justifies their facist existence and human rights abuses.
5
Sorry, Ivanka is more offensive than the Kim's sister because we have heard her speak and her vapid words, brainless observations, insipid twitter announcements and over-all total lack of knowledge or experience regarding government and policy are insulting to any normal thinking person - on the other hand, the Kim sister has wisely kept her mouth shut and comes off far better than Ivanka.
8
Good point, Frank! North Korea hasn't invaded Iraq or Afghanistan and killed hundreds of thousands in the course of ongoing foreign occupations.
4
What I saw was typical anti-American journalists who are enthralled with the idea that the USA is the biggest threat to world peace. I saw CNN, NYTimes, and Washington Post pretending that N Koreans aren't starving, living in prisons the size of LA, and living off of less than a dollar a day. I saw naive journalists, who are unaware of their own biases against regular Americans, place a brutal dictator on a pedestal while slamming Mike Pence. It all fits together nicely with the whole mainstream media's narrative that supporting a pro-American agenda equates you with a Nazi. (How convenient for Nazis to be compared to Trump!--as is they didn't invade nations, kill millions, round up and murder children, and firebomb civilians!) Because clearly we (the Trump voters) are worse then people like Kim Yo-jong.
It's no wonder the media has lost all respect.
3
The United States without justification turned a civil war in Vietnam into a fire storm that lasted more than a decade costing hundreds of thousands of lives including nearly 60,000 US soldiers.
The United States launched an illegal war based on false pretenses in Iraq that cost the lives of at half a million people. It created ISIS and destabilized the Middle East leading to massive immigration of millions that is still affecting world wide politics in a horrendous way.
The United States sold its electoral system to the highest bidders and put in the highest office in the land a racist, sexual predator Trump without a shred of relevant experience, knowledge or decency.
Which is the Rogue State that has caused the greatest damage to the planet? North Korea or the United States? Defense of Ivanka in this context seems a bit out of place
53
Dear Frank-
A little diplomacy 101: When you invade a country claiming they have nuclear weapons when they did not, and then proceed with a bunch of "Axis of Evil" rhetoric, you basically force force countries like Iran and North Korea to pursue the nuclear deterrent option, and by using terms like "Arch-Enemy" and "Rotten to the Core"16 years later, you throw your lot in with Judith Miller and Michael Gordon, making me feel very much like I live in a rogue state. This is war rhetoric, nothing less.
25
Frank,
I think the difference between Kim and Trump is that Kim is not restrained by circumstances. I promise you Trump would be right up there with all the atrocities you can imagine if he had the chance. (Remember, this is the guy who cut off health insurance for his infant nephew who was suffering from severe health problems because of a squabble with said nephew's father - and the guy who wanted to "lock her up" for no reason other than that she is a political rival.) So, no, North Korea and the U.S. aren't the same. But Trump and Kim? Twins separated at birth.
95
Give your column some more thought, Frank. This is lame.
12
perhaps the real question should be, "is Pence the Goebbels of America?"
19
That took my breath away...
Mr. Bruni,
I understand how hard it may be to see this attitude from some members of the press but, on the other hand, you should come to realize how bad Trump is for the USA...and the democracy.
3
Really? America as the good guy? What about our very long history of abusive behavior (Cuba, Nicaragua,) unprovoked invasion of Iraq, Vietnam and a seemingly permanent hostile presence in Afghanistan. We gave up the moral high ground long ago and yes, Ivanka should be held to account for her father's behavior since she clearly does not distance herself from it. Frank missed the point on this one. By a wide margin
21
We napalmed over a million North Korean civilians less than seventy years ago, so comparing Kim Yo-jong to Ivanka Trump probably wasn't flattering to her either.
10
The North Korean dictator sent his sister to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, while President Donald Trump is sending his daughter to the closing. South Koreans were fascinated with Kim Yo Jong the "first sister" of North Korea. She did not show any of the hallmarks of power and wealth that South Koreans expected." South Koreans marveled at her barely-there makeup and her lack of bling. They commented on her plain black outfits and simple purse. They noted the flower-shaped clip that kept her hair back in a no-nonsense style." I am not sure whether Ivanka Trump would attract that much attention from South Koreans like the "first sister" of North Korea who received wall to wall coverage in the South Korean news media.
There are five people in this country who could quickly end this country’s suffering under Trump.
They are Ivanka, Melania, Jared, Hope Hicks and Stormy Daniels.
Were they to hold a joint press conference tomorrow on the White House lawn, Mike Pence would be President by the weekend.
After which, good luck to you and me.
2
Bruni is absolutely right, when he says, "But not all ugliness is created equal, Donald Trump is not Kim Jong-un, the United States is nothing like North Korea and to come anywhere near that suggestion is nuts. Be outraged about what’s going on in America. Don’t be ridiculous." The fact that Bruni believes such even needs to be said is truly a sad, though correct, observation on his part. As Times comments amply demonstrate, many Americans have little, if any, appreciation of the fact that they live in a country where they can safely publicly equate Trump and Kim.
As to why Trump got elected, it has less to do with his possible collusion with Russia than with another observation Bruni makes: "Both... touch on something troubling and important: a tendency — in the media and beyond it — to treat all of public life as a pageant and a public relations contest, with winners and losers determined less by their souls than by their sizzle." And at that, Trump clearly stands above his opposition.
3
My problem with the premise here is that at its core it precludes there ever being a path forward to normalize North Korea and the relations with South Korea if a major gesture like Ms. Kim's "charm offensive" is dismissed as meaningless due to who she is and who sent her. Should she have truly been there to find a way forward then this would be a momentous occasion that could open the door to a more peaceful peninsula. In that sense she is is superior to Ivanka who has never and would never do anything except bring more wealth and fame to her and hers. Second - I'd say our prison system is pretty brutal and people are murdered in there all the time. Men go in for a petty auto theft and come out sodomized and brutalized and not very many care. Trump would happily throw tens of thousand more into this system and throw away the key. Americans are hardly in a good position to be self righteous about prison system. Ours is disgusting.
1
Thanks for saying this. Shame on our media for promoting this fake equivalence. Sure, Trump probably would be as vicious as Kim if he had the chance. The point is he does not have the chance and will not. How are members of DPRK's legislature chosen? Does Trump, as bad as he is, choose members of Congress? What about all those "sanctuary" states and cities in the US? How many are there in North Korea? In November we have a chance to choose a Congress that does not enable Trump. Can North Koreans do that? We have the Bangor Daily News, the Portland Press Herald, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS. Does North Korea have media like that?
2
Whenever I look at the guy, the eye is drawn inescapably to the do, and I’m momentarily confused as to whether I should turn right or left at the next fork. Or whether to double-down on investments in hair-gel makers. I feel entitled, because I’ve certainly made as many jokes as anyone in this forum about Trump’s faux-blond comb-over, since the 2016 presidential primaries.
Frank’s right but understandably too polite. Among other things, Ivanka is a world-class hottie, and “Little Rocket Man’s” sister, while hardly tough on the eyes, nevertheless isn’t in her league by about three galaxies. She also appears to be wearing a man’s platinum Rolex Datejust whose retail value probably could feed 1000 North Korean families for one year. I don’t think Ivanka would pay what it would take to feed 1000 American families for one year to get her father back from kidnappers.
But Frank, in his excess in the back-handed slap of North Korea, also goes too far in his vilification of Trump merely to avoid rotten fruit thrown at him by readers and commenters here.
The simple fact is that the international press covering the Olympics is jealous of the financial salvation Trump has represented for our MSM, and wants to cash in on it themselves. Can’t really blame them for that, either.
1
This is the sort of thing that need not be said. We know the distinctions well enough. The comparison is not any more serious than the ink we level at other equally extraneous matters.
Other than simply claiming that the comparison is "ridiculous," Bruni can't really draw many clear distinctions between Kim Jong-Un and Trump. As for Ivanka, she's a freakish, spoiled apologist for her monster of a father. I'd rather dine with Kim Yo-jong.
1
Oh my goodness, Kim Jong-un is an Asian Trump with glasses. Terrible human being, autocratic, threatening to do damage to someone, somewhere, says crazy things, corrupt, and a narcissist to name a few things. And of course we can compare the Trump administration to Kim; it is American style despotism that is working to destroy democracy as we define it: fanning racism, sexism and classism; giving big tax cuts to the uber rich forever, trying to keep farty white men in power. And to boot... Trump also has a terrible hairdo and a weight problem like Kim. And, and Trump wants a military parade cloaked as patriotism. Another crazed fanatic comes to mind with the parade.. a man with a bad hairdo and a razor mustache saluting the trumps, I mean troops(are we all good little Nazis!!!) And like one of the writers of this column put it, Ivanka and Yo-jong have nothing to do with it.
One makes peace with their enemies, not with their friends. Is peace with North Korea possible? The only way to find out is to try.
For South Korea, making peace with the North is an existential goal. Reuniting Koreans is a long held goal for families on both sides of the divide. The Olympics are an opportunity for North and South Koreans to see each other as just people. It is harder for Kim Jong Un to sell propaganda about South Koreans when they are gracious hosts.
Mike Pence's snubs and sanctimonious remarks were inappropriate, counter-productive, and rude to South Korea. How dare he, as a guest, try coopting foreign policy from those who had welcomed him? How dare he call himself a "Christian first" and reject any small peaceful overture? How dare he carry on about human rights when his boss kisses up to ruthless dictators the world over?
The Trump administration is determined to keep the world on the brink of warfare. Diplomacy is nothing to Trump and his representatives.
1
Unfortunately, Frank, countries outside the USA see less of a difference between the Trumps and the Kims than you do.
2
Commonality: they both got where they are for no other reason than they were born into the right families.
Difference: one did something to help her regime; the other is a complicit in weakening her own country.
1
Well said. Now everybody please stop watching NBC's ridiculous coverage.
2
As despicable as he is, I wish the United States would extend a hand to Kim Jong-un and talk with him if the opportunity presents. Because millions of North Korean's are suffering, and I want them to be free and secure. Continuing the adversarial relationship only prolongs the suffering.
Kim Yo-jong's appearance at these Winter Olympics presented just such an opportunity. I wish Vice President Pence had swallowed his pride, turned and extended his hand to her. He could have said something like, "We are pleased and gratified that North Korea is participating in these games; and I'm glad that you have come."
Sometimes being gracious to adversaries is the best way to thaw implacable hostility. What's to lose? We can always go back to arguing about who has a bigger button.
2
This column didn't work. You're better than this, Frank. Use your inches for something more serious.
3
Absolutely stunning, the comments here. Trump is "worse" than Kim? USA is "worse" than North Korea? Clearly, there is a dementia among the commentators here. Bruni claims Trump is a sexist, insinuating this sexist is unfit for office to due his "sexist-ism". Really? Ever heard of Bill Clinton? JFK? The disgusting bias, the deliberate conflation, and the lack of context and integrity shown by this writer is simply mind-boggling.
4
How about this nimble moral analogy: if you eliminate health care options, tolerate racism and abuse of women, do nothing about gun control, ignore the opioid crisis, squash rules protecting our air and water, and throw billions at an arms race, then yes, people will die. It just won't be as quick or as dramatic as starving your population, killing your relatives with poison or an antiaircraft gun, or torturing a hapless tourist. But the dead won't be any less dead because we attach some superior moral authority to an uncaring American president over a Korean dictator. You, sir, are wrong.
6
What a great piece! Thanks, Mr. Bruni!
4
Must have struck a nerve hey Bruni? Seems to me Kim's sister is more qualified for her position than Trump's daughter is for her portfolio, especially since North Koreans live in a family run dictatorship and we used to have a democracy where the president's kids weren't given a perfunctory role. Can you imagine the indignant outrage if Obama gave Malia a job in the White House in a high level position like Jarvanka? All holy hell would have broken lose with pundits like Bruni covering us in indignant spittle.
3
you've made a harsh criticism on NK and I get it.
Koreans share a deep sorrow for what had happened to Wambier family. We respect the US for its being democratic, guaranteeing of equal opportunities, and freedom of speech. I can give tons of more reasons to explain why I love the US and its people.
But we also think that it is pretty weird you are mad that Kim is brutal because he kills people at will when your tank ran over our two pitiful middle school girls one and a half decade ago and haven't done anything yet so far.
We feel weird when you say NK is a life-threatening rogue state while you've been waging war against many people in the Middle East, torturing innocent people there, and make us feel like the peril of war is at the door in the Korean Peninsula.
The threat of nuclear weapons? well, the US is the biggest possessor of them in the world so why would it be a threat when a teeny-tiny country like NK "just" has developed some?
You say NK is our archenemy but youngsters in SK have the same feeling towards the US rather than a long-time ally whenever it begins to talk about the possibility of war here.
All I want to say is that the US is a leader country that is most admired and respected in the world and because of that, you have huge responsibility to be fair before all other countries and look into things and take care of them in a more mindful, impartial way.
please, stop the condescension and think about where your country is standing.
8
both families and thuggish and vulgar.
3
I disagree Mr. Bruni. I mean, I agree that the media can be ridiculous when grasping for stories, but we don’t know what Trump would be like if he had the same kind of power as Kim Jong-un. Though admiration is not the same as action, Trump certainly admires leaders who do things similar to Kim. Using such language as “archenemy”, “homicidal fanatic”, and though you didn’t use it, that stupid handle “rogue nation”, is not helpful. You do know their propaganda paints America the same way, right? And most of their citizens believe it. Autocratic disctatorships are frightening and I’m not trying to underplay that, but they do what they do for self-preservation, with the examples of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi before them. I recommend Evan Osnos’ piece in the New Yorker on his visit to Pyongyang if readers are interested in facts rather than emotion.
1
Hmmm. How many countries has N.K. invaded, bombed or occupied?
They are too busy incarcerating and murdering their own citizens.
2
My sentiments exactly. When I read that I thought, how stupid can someone be to write such nonsense? Is this the best we can do? Really????
2
It's unbelievable that an article like this even needs to be written but thank you for doing it.
5
Looking at the comments from readers, it appears that most people missed the point of the article, or didn't read it and skipped to the comments section to rage against Trump and Pence. Rather than seeing that Trump is the lesser of two evils when compared to Kim, people are so fixated on the man closer to them that they have decided to be blinded into saying, The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Haven't we learned anything from when the Left lionized "Uncle Joe" Stalin, even at the height of the Purges? What do you think happens to people in North Korea who question the leadership? At least Trump can only call you a loser on Twitter and not send three generations of your family to a gulag. I'd like to send everyone who finds Ms. Kim charming a one way ticket to Pyongyang.
4
I think Bruni can use his talents on a more important matter in these turbulent times than criticizing the comparison of the daughter of a would be autocrat with the sister of a tyrant.
Pence is the wrong man for any job.
1
"But there can be no mistake: America is in a rotten moment. North Korea is rotten to the core."
And "patriotic" North Koreans are shifting the narrative to "North Korea is in a rotten moment (or several rotten moments). America is rotten to the core."
Ordinary N. Koreans are powerless to challenge the stranglehold their leader has on their country. Ordinary Americans feel the same way about the Republican regime currently running our government. Highlighting issues with leadership is valid. Characterizing an entire country based on that leadership is wrong.
The fact is that Mr. Bruni proves, albeit reluctantly, that there is some validity in comparing Ms. Trump with Ms. Kim (note his observations in paragraphs 7, 9, and 10).
Frank, are you forgetting that decades before Trump even became a TV personality (let alone a politician) that he was involved with more Mafia-connected construction businesses in New York City and New Jersey than you could possibly keep track of?
Trump may not have had an entire government and military at his disposal for most of his life, but lets not pretend like he doesn't have literal blood on his hands. He has benefited directly from the mob. Don't be naive and pretend like there wasn't any blood money or bodies thrown into that sordid history.
Kim shows more class than Ivanka, plus ivanka's father is trying to ruin this country. Kim's brother will never be able to do that.
The real question - did Russia meddle in North Korea's leadership succession, and put Kim Jong-un power in place of his eldest brother, who was...
> Arrested in Japan?
> With a forged Dominican Passport??
> Then deported to China???
> One year after Putin ascended to the presidency????
(all in Wikipedia)
Has Russian bear-prints all over it...
Just leave $100K in a suitcase in a Berlin hotel room (which one, doesn't matter) - and more details gladly forthcoming...
For clarity, it's which suitcase doesn't matter - not which hotel room...
You'll know which room - they don't call you "Intelligence" agencies for nothing...
2
What they clearly have in common is they both got rich on the backs of Asian slave labor.
" . . . is a rogue state run by a homicidal fanatic . . .who gleefully threatens to nuke other countries." Would that be them? or us?
1
Whooo! I'm so glad for this article. A splash of cold water; back to reality ...
4
Thank you. I gagged when I first saw this silly analogy being parroted by too many people who should have known better. We're talking Lady Macbeth here, not some silly entitled rich kid. Ten to one, Kim's sister was in on the deal to order her brother-in-law's face to be smeared with nerve gas. I haven't seen "charm" like this since South Vietnam's Madame Binh laughed while Buddhist monks burnt themselves alive.
7
Given the disgusting history of the entire trump menagerie, I tend to see this as an insult to Kim Yo-jong, not to little Ivanka. And no, to all jingoists, this is not some incendiary indictment of the democratic US vs the NK regime...it is an indictment of the perverse trumps.
223
Perverse opinion but hey it’s liberals
2
Thank, you said this so well.
Kim Jong-Un is a dictator and like all dictators he ruthlessly killed anyone who might be a threat to his power and he did so publicly to remind his people of the consequences of crossing him. After seeing what happened to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi he initiated a nuclear weapon program to ensure that we stay out of his business. We may not like it but Kim Jong-Un has secured his family dynasty until his citizens decide otherwise.
Trump is Trump. He dreams of being a strong man but all he's really doing is providing cover while our government agencies are being gutted and our military is built up by the GOP. He's also putting judges in place who aren't fans of civil rights, LGBT rights, or women's rights and who have a fondness for expanding religious values on to the rest of us regardless of how we may feel about it. Just as destructive but the impact will be felt gradually over time rather than all at once which means the public may not put up a fuss.
Both men realize that a charming woman can smooth a lot of ruffled feathers and provide cover. Ivanka stands by her father just like Kim Jong-Un's sister stands by him. They could leave but they choose to represent the men in their lives. That means they're both complicit and will be judged accordingly by history.
6
It is true. Trump has been compared to Hitler. Trump has been compared to Mussolini. Trump has been compared to Kim Jong Un. Trump has been compared to Vladimir Putin. Trump has been compared to Ronald McDonald. But we cannot automatically indict relatives. And the sins of the fathers are not necessarily visited upon the children or siblings. But the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Trump has been compared to his father.
4
The Olympic Games have a two thousand year history of nations, even in the midst of brutal and bloody wars, observing certain protoccols of behavior. With Kim Yo-jong and the President of South Korea nearby and the stadium crowd standing out of respect to the host country during the entrance of the Korean team, Vice-President Pence chose to "take a knee" in protest. Presumably this protest was orchestrated by the same man who wants NFL players fired for the same act on a much smaller stage. Odd that this incident wasn't mentioned in this article. Too nonjudgmental?
116
How about K Y-j is North Korea's Eva Braun? Is there a need for a comparator? She's the messenger not the message. It's like making your phone responsible for the scam call you just received instead of the person making the call. Ivanka is similarly irrelevant.
7
how about Ivanka is the real comparison to YVb?
having a hard time seperating the two
pretty sure Ivanka's at a loss for an answer
"The United States is not as bad as North Korea."
That's one hot take you've got there, Mr. Bruni!
I have a hotter take: The only thing standing in the way of America becoming an authoritarian state similar to North Korea is the Democratic Party and its allies (reluctant or otherwise).
228
Please, that is an insult to every American.
An authoritarian state similar to North Korea? Do you REALLY believe that? I doubt the US could EVER become even close to to that let alone like The Handmaid's Tale. We don't have the stomach to let it happen. The vast majority of Conservatives and Liberals will prevent either side from it happening.
6
Yea, I’m guessing the US will not be a dictatorship, I think I’ll go all in on that. Care to wager? I’ll put up my house, just to start.
4
If Trump had his way, we would be more like Russia or Venezuela where the people are oppressed just enough to be kept down while the oligarchy absconds with the national coffers. Just your standard jailing of democrats, armed gangs to keep people in place, occasional police brutality, political murders and the such---all the while the pretty people at the top party like rock stars.
What happens in North Korea is an altogether different marvel. People in N. Korea are OBLIGATED to keep a photograph of the Dear Leader in their homes. People inform on one another for the most minor of transgressions and the penalties are brutal and barbaric. People are repressed. Afraid to be honest. Chronically scared with occasional bouts of starvation. People have zero access to the outside world. They are told WHOPPERS about the rest of the world. They are forced to watch executions. They are even force to cry hysterically when one of the Kim family members die. In North Korea, you are one bad impulse away from being carted in the middle of the night to never be heard from again.
So no, North Korea is NOT the United States and as evil and awful as the Trump family is, even they don't fall to that vastly deep recess of evil.
2
Without doubt North Korea's leaders are brutal, oppressive tyrants, but there is a risk of dehumanizing the entire North Korean population based on the actions of their dictator. We must always remain aware that our own perceptions of other nations are filtered through the west's own propaganda machine, and that there are millions of people who are trying to live happy, productive lives in the context of that awful regime. That said, it speaks to the awfulness of the Trump administration that our media are so happy to offer praise to the North Koreans by way of a favorable comparison.
American nepotism is just as damning.
5
With what is going on in the White House and Congress right now, we are not in a very good position to be criticizing anybody else.
81
What you write is dead on.
Bravo!
I wish everyone, not just NYT subscribers would read what you have to say.
8
Before the 2016 election I would have agreed with this Bruni. The US is a proud democracy, defender of human and civil rights, etc etc and so forth.
Now look.
6
Whether it is Washington or Pyongyang, they are all like children pretending to be grown-ups, believing their make-believe so much that they are intellectually unable to take a step aside and realize that it is such a silly game that could also be very dangerous. They are incapable of self reflexion to see the absurdity and the uselessness of it all. It will be interesting to see once they have finally grown up, if they ever do, how they will look at themselves and juge themselves 30 years down the road. Children have a heart, those don't. That is what makes them so unqualified to lead in any manner. Those are no true noble human beings, no matter what their base think or say, no matter how much praise they receive from the ignorant crowd. My heart aches watching them missing out on the essential meaning of life and being so deficient in discernment. My heart aches watching how many precious lives are wasted and how many incredible opportunities are being missed for our human evolution.
The trumps are the bigger rogues, leave American propaganda aside for a change. Sure, the North Korean regime are no angels. But for this country with the most wars, deaths, destruction and weapons since 1950 under it's belt ... Is there no end to hypocrisy and projection? Not to mention, any country that elects Trump as it's leader deserves no sympathy nor respect.
21
We have a Constitution and Bill of Rights. North Korea is a dictatorship.
However, on the one hand, NK enslaves their people, on the other the U.S. has GITMO. NK has a few Nukes, the U.S. has thousands. NK threatens the U.S. with nuclear holocaust, the U.S. has their CIC Prez “Fire and Fury like the world has never seen before”. NK invaded South Korea once. The U.S. invaded the Dominican Republic, Bay of Pigs, Panama, North Vietnam, Lebanon, Egypt, Grenada, Iraq and a few others.
Maybe the world played up to NK because they don’t like us anymore.
Actually, with the president and his supine Republican stooges in congress, we are getting there quite fast. To the rest of the world, maybe this should read:
"Don’t blur the difference between a rogue state and North Korea."
Just saying ...
The interview was with Bill O'Reilly, not Joe Scarborough.
1
“There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country is so innocent?" was the quote from the O’Reilly interview. Mr. Bruni accurately quotes Donald Trump to Joe Scarbrough in the peice.
Yeah, North Korea threatens to nuke other countries, but for almost 60 years, the US has maintained their huge arsenal of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. That is far worse than N Korea threatening to do something that they most likely lack the technology to do.
And oh yes, which country has used nukes - twice - on civilian populations?
24
Good thinking. BUT how do I know that the wall Trump wants to build to keep people out, is really a wall to keep people in? We found out that it don't take much to close America's borders (9/11) but maybe it can work both ways?
1
Excellent point about the Great Wall Of trump. I don't think trump is mentally sharp enough to think of the Wall as anything but a tribute to his base and a monument to his vanity. But whatever his true intentions, and with hardly a brick being laid, it has already succeeded in keeping people in. Not physically, of course, but mentally. That's precisely what xenophobia does. In the end, that is more insidious than physical imprisonment.
2
Americans are only interested in Kim Yo-jong's charm offensive because it worked, and illustrated that a brutal regime that occasionally reminds the world that it can and will incinerate Seoul sells better in South Korea than the Trump administration. Fact is, NK wins the charm offensive because it's trying to charm and the Trump administration isn't, not even consulting SK and still has no ambassador there, and South Koreans can see that.
5
I guess optics matter. Pence is stolid and dissapproving, almost androidian in his rigidity. It is hard to look like that and act like that and get good optics, when faced with a real pro.
But yeah, we really haven't come to the point at which we have a government in which Trump, say, doesn't fire Kelly or Mueller, but shoots them with anti-aircraft guns. We have stupidity and arrogance and incompetence. We don't have a Caligula-like tendency towards sadism as a national trait. When we write off people, we leave them to their fate, with a sense that the community might pick up the pieces, even if we are unwilling to use tax dollars to do so. We don't actually feed them to dogs.
I am depressed about my country and about its priorities. But i am not crazy or deluded. Ivanka is a nuisance. The Kim family is an evil. There is a really big difference.
9
So, the old "Genghis Khan was worse than Hitler' explanation. Give me a break.
1
I will not defend "mailed back like expired meat" action of the North Korean regime. But I am even more ashamed of the actions of my own country that is responsible for the dozens of tortured and hollowed-out (and innocent) individuals who languished at Guantanamo for years, with no formal charges ever brought against them, who were then shipped back to their devastated land (or somewhere else) with no recompense or even apology for what they were put through.
104
Frank.
This writer is definitely entitled to some response from you.
How, exactly, do you rationalize and distinguish our complete abandonment of both due process and humanity in holding without charging hundreds of innocent people at Gitmo for a decade or more under conditions tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment, if not outright torture?
North Korea is an extremely authoritarian and repressive regime, with poor living standards and a lack of democratic political institutions. But coverage like this-calling it “depraved,” builds a liberal case for intervention- something that would lead to the deaths of tens of millions. North Koreans are not mindless followers of Kim Jong Un-they are human beings. And Trump, overseas, has killed far more people than Kim has. The United States is free by comparison, but do we really have the moral right to attack foreign governments as “evil?”
7
"I get it. Both young women attempt to put a pretty, pert face on a clan — and a government — of transcendent ugliness. Both decided to do that in the context of triple axels and the luge. Ivanka is due in South Korea for the closing ceremony."
"Transcendent ugliness" describing the US and our government?
So first you say that equating the two is ridiculous, and then you equate the two. The fact that you then say "not all ugliness is created equal" does not absolve you.
Mr. Bruni, your article is only slightly less despicable than the people you are pretending to criticize.
It's unbalanced, unhinged views like yours, preached this way, that will make people vote for Trump forever, even if he were to morph into a leprous troglodyte.
Please keep writing.
3
You know what, Frank? This is the sickening state that the press has become. The stupidity of comparing Kim's sister with anyone, let alone Ivanka Trump is outrageous and only a ploy to sell newspapers. It is certainly not news, nor even entertainment. Send this article to the "genius" who made the comparison. Don't insult your readership by stating the obvious. We know.
21
USA's problem is that it is increasingly more difficult to distinguish between our own republic and a "rogue state." Drastically increasing size of military at the expense of domestic priorities. Check. Massive indebtedness related to warfare. Check. Increasing discussion of nuclear warfare as a substitute for diplomacy. Check. Commander-in-chief with tiny ego and minimal self-control. Check. Leadership that believes that God supports violence as a way of solving problems. Check. Air of moral superiority that certain races are better than others. Check.
9
Calling people who don't applaud the leader "traitors". Check, A leader who wants a military parade. Check. Having a leader endorse torture. Check.
1
Oh I thought the rouge state was actually in America, you know like persecuting minorities, cancelling international treaties and overspending in the military, the rouge stuff.,,
17
Yes overall people are not very good at making distinctions when questionable individuals make look bad somebody they dislike. I remember the delight of most liberals in the USA when the Chavez, the Venezuelan autocrat, compared Bush with the Devil at the UN.
5
Well if adding and abating a dangerous and corrupt president is the standard, then it’s more like Ivanka is the new US Ms Kim, than the other way around.
They both deserve the references to one another. They’re both in on the con big time, “separated at birth” so to speak -
10