A screen capture of U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet on Aug. 2 defending North Korea's missile tests. Screen capture from Twitter



By Lee Min-hyung



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is paying more attention to U.S. President Donald Trump's "tweetstorms," as his messages are regarded as Washington's "unofficial" foreign policy initiatives, diplomatic sources said Thursday.



"As far as I understand, the North Korean government was checking Trump's tweets on a real-time basis as Trump is a very active user endorsing the social platform as a preferred tool in announcing Washington's key policies. North Korea is watching it," the source added asking not to be identified.



Trump leaves a number of tirades in addition to personal thoughts on state affairs on a frequent basis on the platform. Political circles in Washington in particular are monitoring Trump's Twitter messages even regarding overseas diplomatic policies.



"In the political world of the U.S., a widespread perception is that Trump's tweets represent the country's overseas policies," the source added.



The U.S. president has been posting his thoughts and sharing his assessments of North Korea's nuclear disarmament dialogue before and after holding his first summit with Kim in June last year. He has since praised himself for forming a close and reliable relationship with Kim even when their nuclear negotiations are at a stalemate in the wake of the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February.



Trump's tweets on the North are "very critical" in terms of Pyongyang formulating its nuclear negotiation strategy ahead of their restart of the nuclear talks.



Citing a "close and personal relationship" with Kim, Trump rarely denounces the North on his Twitter, but instead often speaks highly of the country's young leader and expresses his willingness to hold another summit with him to move forward with their stalled nuclear talks.



The source added the North is heightening tensions against the South for carrying out joint military exercises with the U.S. and planning to introduce advanced weapons, such as the F-35A stealth fighter jets, as a tactic by toning down direct criticism against Washington.



North Korea views the South's deployment of the advanced U.S. jets as a big potential security threat, said the source.



The North has reacted sensitively to the Republic of Korea Air Force's plan to introduce 40 F-35A jets by the end of 2021. Earlier this month, North Korea's state-controlled Rodong Sinmun strongly denounced Seoul for "madly sticking to military reinforcement schemes."



"The North's continued expression of discomfort on the issue is part of its strategy to raise the bar and gain more during the possibly upcoming summit with Trump and Kim," another diplomatic source said.



Washington and Pyongyang have yet to fix exact timelines or schedules for their resumption of the working-level nuclear talks. Trump and Kim agreed to resume the talks sometime in July, but no official talks have taken place as of now.



