Kim Jong-un offers "small apology" for missile tests

So bizarre is the relationship between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un that the US president has taken delight in telling the world that the North Korean leader has made a "small apology" for test-firing a bunch of short-range ballistic missiles in recent weeks. He included those two words in what Trump called a "beautiful letter". All his previous letters have also been "beautiful". Of course the North Korean autocratic leader isn't really apologising. It's not as if he blasted off the ballistic missiles by mistake. It was all a ploy to show his disfavour with the US over the American military exercises with South Korea. It's the old story. These joint exercises have been going on for years as a way of staying alert for any kind of confrontation with North Korea and for reassuring the South Koreans that the US will always come to their rescue if Pyongyang dares to attack them. But ever since Trump decided to cancel one of the biggest exercises in order to keep Kim Jong-un sweet, the North Korean chap has played the military exercise card again and again. This time he wrote to Trump and said he only fired the short-range missiles because he was upset about the exercises. Trump was so impressed by the letter that he told reporters the exercises were "ridiculous" and expensive. Kim will be very pleased with his choice of words in his letter. Now, yet another summit can be held - the third - between Trump and Kim where, guess what, the issue of nuclear disarmament will be raised once again. The second summit did not go well and Trump cannot afford to walk out again, as he did at the one in Hanoi in February. This time Trump has to get something out of his chats with Kim. Otherwise the whole world will be entitled to say: "We told you!" In other words. Kim has no intention of dismantling any of his nuclear weapons, however many more beautiful letters he writes to Trump. I hope I'm wrong but I fear I'm right.