New Book Tells Story of Trump-Kim Relationship

U.S. President Donald Trump¹'s comments about the threat from the new coronavirus received widespread attention after parts of a new book were released this week.

The passages are from "Rage," written by Bob Woodward. The book will be available for purchase online and in stores next week.

The book also tells about Trump's relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a mysterious new weapon.

"Rage" is based on 18 interviews that Woodward had with the president between December 2019 and July of this year. Trump's comments have been reported on CNN and in The Washington Post, where Woodward and Carl Bernstein won a Pulitzer Prize for their investigative reporting.

The new coronavirus

In a February 7 telephone call, Trump spoke² with Woodward about the coronavirus. The president was reported as saying, "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky³ one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous⁴ flus. This is deadly stuff."

At the same time, Trump was telling Americans that the virus was not worse than influenza⁵ and that the government had it under control.

On March 19, the president again spoke with Woodward about the coronavirus. He reportedly said "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic."

On Wednesday, Trump defended his comments in a meeting with reporters at the White House. He told them, "So the fact is, I'm a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don't want people to be frightened."

Former U.S. vice⁶ president Joe Biden will face Trump in the November 3 presidential election. He called Trump's actions "a life and death betrayal of the American people."

North Korea

Woodward wrote that Trump said he was impressed with Kim Jong Un when he first met the North Korean leader in Singapore in 2018. Trump reportedly said that Kim "tells me everything" and even told the president how he had his uncle, a North Korean official, killed in 2013.

The former Washington Post reporter said he received copies of 25 letters exchanged between Trump and Kim. The U.S. leader was said to have called them "love letters."

Woodward wrote they show a relationship that moved from Trump calling Kim a "Little Rocket Man" to becoming the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader.

After their meeting in Singapore, Kim wrote to Trump on December 25, 2018. The message said "Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency's hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day."

Trump wrote back to Kim on December 28. His message read, "Like you, I have no doubt that a great result will be accomplished⁷ between our two countries, and that the only two leaders who can do it are you and me."

The two men met a second time in Vietnam's capital in February 2019 without reaching an agreement. Trump told Woodward that when Kim refused to give up his nuclear weapons, Trump tried another method.

"Do you ever do anything other than send rockets up to the air?" Trump asked Kim. "Let's go to a movie together. Let's go play a round of golf."

The president dismissed criticism about his three meetings with Kim, saying they were no big deal. Critics said that by meeting Kim, Trump provided the North Korean leader with legitimacy⁸.

"It takes me two days. I met. I gave up nothing," said the president. He compared North Korea's desire to keep its nuclear weapons to somebody who is in love with a house and "they just can't sell it."

Mystery weapon

In discussions with Woodward about tensions between the U.S. and North Korea in 2017, Trump said: "I have built a nuclear — a weapons system that nobody's ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven't even seen or heard about. We have stuff that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Chinese President Jinping) Xi have never heard about before. There's nobody — what we have is incredible."

Woodward wrote that other officials later confirmed that the U.S. military had a "secret new weapons system." Those officials did not want their names to be made public. They told Woodward that they were surprised Trump had spoken about it.

The president's national security adviser⁹ Robert O'Brien told Fox News on Wednesday that Trump did not talk about any specific weapon system. "We've always got something out there that our adversaries¹⁰ don't know about," O'Brien said.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

interview - n. a meeting between a reporter and another person in order to get information for a story

strenuous - adj. requiring great energy and effort

panic - n. a situation that causes many people to become afraid and to rush to do something

impress - v. to cause someone to feel admiration¹¹ or interest

sacred - adj. highly value and important

location - n. a place

accomplish - v. to succeed

legitimacy - n. the condition of being real and accepted

incredible - adj. difficult or impossible to believe

adversary¹² - n. enemy or opponent

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 strenuous   

adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的

参考例句：

• He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
• You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。

5 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

8 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

11 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

12 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。