Trump to tout American sovereignty, North Korea rapprochement in United Nations address

President Trump's first day at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York City was spent at a counternarcotics meeting and with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, with whom he signed a revised U.S.-South Korea trade agreement. It was also largely overshadowed by chaos in his own administration tied to his Supreme Court nomination and the job status of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. On Tuesday, Trump will address the General Assembly, and White House officials say he will assert U.S. sovereignty and defend his decisions to engage with North Korea and withdraw the U.S. from multilateral decisions on climate change and Iran's nuclear program.

"Such rhetoric, when delivered from the dais of the General Assembly chamber, was a shock last year," says Ishaan Tharoor at The Washington Post. "But as Trump makes his second appearance at the United Nations as president, no world leader or foreign dignitary will be surprised to hear more of the same." On Wednesday, Trump will chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council where he is expected to focus on Iran, even as other key members of the Security Council are meeting at the General Assembly to explore ways of salvaging the Iran nuclear deal amid U.S. sanctions and threats.

A year ago, Trump used his U.N. General Assembly speech to attack North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man" and threatened to "totally destroy North Korea." On Monday he said after meeting with Moon that he will hold a second summit with Kim in the "not too distant future," though "the location is being worked on. The timing is being worked on."

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