



A press release straight from the Hermit Kingdom couldn't tweet it better, or as The Huffington Post and New York Magazine's Yashar Ali asks, "Wait people are still tweeting this crap?"

Wait people are still tweeting this crap? https://t.co/K0eaRDg22w — Yashar Ali (@yashar) February 11, 2018

Or as the conservative John Podhoretz mocked, "'without a word, Kim Jong Yo has exposed the Western media's moral depravity."

"without a word, Kim Jong Yo has exposed the Western media's moral depravity" — John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) February 11, 2018

But it wasn't just the Times. Pick your poison. As one respected reporter, one of the few truly nonpartisan ones left, wrote me on Sunday , "I find it appalling and media has been moving this way for awhile. It started with them treating Kim Jong Un statements about Trump as if they were uttered by another world leader. Now glowing press coverage. It is sick."



An ABC News headline continued the unintentional comedy: " "Kim Jong-un’s Sister Turns On the Charm, Taking Pence’s Spotlight," the paper of record's headline reads.Or as the conservative John Podhoretz mocked, "'without a word, Kim Jong Yo has exposed the Western media's moral depravity."An ABC News headline continued the unintentional comedy: " North Korea's 200-plus cheerleaders command spotlight at 2018 Winter Olympics with synchronized chants.

"If 'diplomatic dance' were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un's younger sister would be favored to win gold," the article begins.



"Seen by some as her brother's answer to American first daughter Ivanka Trump, Kim, 30, is not only a powerful member of Kim Jong Un's kitchen cabinet but also a foil to the perception of North Korea as antiquated and militaristic," the story reads.



The reaction to these stories — and this is a rarity in 2018's polarized environment — has been bipartisan condemnation.

"While Mr. Pence came with an old message — that the United States would continue to ratchet up 'maximum sanctions' until the North dismantled its nuclear arsenal — Ms. Kim delivered messages of reconciliation as well as an unexpected invitation from her brother to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, to visit Pyongyang, the North Korean capital," it continued. You get the point: The vice president isn't hip to what all the cool kids are saying. Kim wants peace, Pence wants war or, at the very least, a continued cold war. Forget the gulags and the mass murders and the starvation of the North Korean people. Forget Otto Warmbier, a U.S. citizen tortured before dying at the hands of the North Koreans. Forget the missile tests over Japan and the declaration of obliterating the United States and its allies in Asia and the Pacific. What the media wants you to remember is Kim has a great smile and just wants peace and love and Taylor Swift, while Team Trump is evil. Or something ... Here's what Pence had to say before departing for South Korea, a declaration maintained based on what the world witnessed on Saturday, "We’ll continue to seize every opportunity to ensure that North Korea does not use the powerful imagery and backdrop of the Olympics to paper over an appalling record of human rights and a pattern of developing weapons and conducting the kind of missile launches that are threatening our nation and threatening neighbors across the region." Upon returning home, Pence stressed "the maximum pressure campaign" will continue, but added that the U.S. is willing to sit down with the North Koreans.



"No pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that … represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization," Pence told The Washington Post on Sunday. Upon returning home, Pence stressed "the maximum pressure campaign" will continue, but added that the U.S. is willing to sit down with the North Koreans."No pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that … represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization," Pence told The Washington Post on Sunday.

"But if you want to talk, we’ll talk," he added.

An old proverb that goes back thousands of years completely applies today, if this weekend's subservient coverage of North Korea is any indication: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

CNN contributor and Washington Examiner reporter-columnist Salena Zito sums it all up with her usual sober perspective: "I am deeply saddened by how my profession has normalized and glamorized this murderous regime. And then we wonder why no one trusts us."

CNN contributor and Washington Examiner reporter-columnist Salena Zito sums it all up with her usual sober perspective: "I am deeply saddened by how my profession has normalized and glamorized this murderous regime. And then we wonder why no one trusts us."

I am deeply saddened by how my profession has normalized and glamorized this murderous regime.

And then we wonder why no one trusts us. pic.twitter.com/pMKVPEvOWP — SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) February 11, 2018