Donald Trump’s love-hate relationship with Kim Jong-un could plunge the world into a nuclear crisis in 2020, an expert has warned.
Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said North Korea will ‘almost certainly’ return to testing long-range weapons in the new year after a deadline imposed by Pyongyang on stalled negotiations expires.
When that happens, Mr Lewis warned, Trump could take the snub personally, given that he previously described how he and Kim ‘fell in love’ during talks.
Likening the two world leaders to ‘children playing with toys’, he said the prospect of an over-reaction by Trump ‘scares the s*** out of me.’
Kim Jong-un has threatened to restart long-range missile testing in the New Year after nuclear talks with Donald Trump broke down earlier this year (file image)
Kim had promised a ‘Christmas Present’ to coincide with the Workers’ Party meeting in Pyongyang (pictured this week), but no test materialised – leaving the world in suspense
Speaking to Mail Online, he said: ‘North Korea is going to resume missile testing next year, and I have no idea how Trump is going to respond to that. He could take it as a personal affront.
‘I think he really has an emotional involvement in North Korea, he’s talked about his relationship with Kim Jong-un in terms of ‘love’, and love and hate are very similar emotions.
‘It would be very easy for those feelings to curdle into a bitter resentment.
North Korea is widely expected to test a long-range nuclear missile, such as the Hwasong-14 which it last tested in 2017
‘I can’t really see the situation getting out of hand unless there’s some kind of emotional involvement, so that scares the s*** out of me.’
His warning comes after a year which saw nuclear treaties abandoned, powerful new weapons unveiled, and renewed conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours.
In October, the US tore up a key nuclear treaty with Russia which had barring the Cold War foes from developing medium-range nuclear weapons.
Moscow has since warned that there is now not enough time to renegotiate another nuclear arms treaty – New START – which is due to expire in 2021.
If that treaty is allowed to lapse, it would mark the first time since the Cold War that no missile caps have been in place on any world power.
Meanwhile China unveiled a raft of new nuclear-capable missiles including the DF-41, believed by many to be the most powerful nuke ever created.
Beijing has also showed off what it claims are hypersonic DF-17 nuclear missiles, which are impervious to current defences.
It comes after Russia also bragged of developing similar missiles, dubbed Kinjal.
Elsewhere, India and Pakistan – both nuclear-armed nations – have reignited an old feud over the state of Kashmir, after India revoked its autonomous status.
Nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis has warned that Trump could take the move as a personal affront, given his ‘loving’ relationship with Kim, plunging the world into a nuclear crisis
Hundreds of delegates at the Workers’ Party Plenary meeting in Pyongyang
Kim Jong-un and other members of the ruling party chair an annual meeting, ahead of the Supreme Leader’s New Year address
The move prompted Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to warn the UN of possible nuclear war.
Likening the situation to the Cold War, Mr Lewis added: ‘During the Cold War there was this real fear that nuclear weapons posed a fundamental threat, that nukes posed a threat to our survival, so the nuclear race couldn’t just run and run.
‘It just feels to me like that’s all over, that people don’t feel that sense of concern anymore.
‘Almost nobody is talking about negotiating limits on these weapons, and there is no enthusiasm for discussing treaties.
‘Cold War leaders lived through the Second World War and were genuinely afraid of a nuclear war.
‘I don’t think the current generation has that fear at all. They’re like children playing with toys and there’s a real chance of something going wrong.’
Speaking about what new weapons North Korea might unveil in 2020, he raised the prospect they will show off a solid-fuel nuclear missile.
Solid-fuel nukes are easier to transport and quicker to fire than their liquid fuel equivalents, making them much harder to detect and destroy before they are fired.
Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s top diplomat, has already called Trump and ‘old man’ after her referred to Kim Jong-un as ‘little rocket man’ in bitter exchanges
Once in the air, the chances of stopping a nuclear warhead before it hits its target are greatly reduced.
He said there is a chance that Kim’s regime will return to testing nuclear warheads at a new site – after his old testing ground was destroyed – but said it is far more likely he will fire missiles, including long-range projectiles.
North Korea has conducted repeated tests of short-range missiles and rocket artillery in recent months, in an effort to pile pressure on the US as the deadline to resume talks approaches.
Kim has also taken two horseback rides to the top of Mount Paektu, the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula and the spiritual birthplace of his regime.
Such a stunt is usually carried out by North Korean leaders to show their resolve ahead of a major shift in policy.
Kim has also declared that ‘denuclearisation’ is now off the table in negotiations with the US, prompting Trump to warn that he ‘risks everything’ if he backs away now.
Trump has also returned to name-calling – describing Kim as ‘little rocket man’ – prompting angry rebukes from Pyongyang which has threatened to resume calling him a ‘dotard’.
Kim Yong-chol, the kingdom’s most senior diplomat who visited Washington during negotiations, also branded Trump an ‘erratic old man’.