President Trump's twenty-ninth week was chiefly marked by tense international relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Initially, the week began with Trump's "working vacation" - a vacation prompted by the difficulties in the air conditioning and heating system of the White House - at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Although Trump was on a vacation, the former businessman began to make threats to North Korea at a meeting discussing the opioid epidemic on August 9th, stating that "North Korea best not make anymore threats to the United States" or else "they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
The significance of the statement is directly supported by President Trump's growing annoyance with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who has reportedly made nuclear threats to the United States in the past. In response to such a strong sentiment, North Korea made threats against the U.S territory Guam. In information released by North Korean state media, North Korea allegedly plans to launch four missiles at the island with the approval of Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to the military plan, the missiles would be launched to go over Japan for 1,065 seconds, and land about 30 to 40 kilometers away from the island.
Historically, the island of Guam has been home to 5,000 of American military members and their families. Along with the prevalence of U.S troops located on the coast, Guam reportedly contains America's most advanced military weaponry as well as two military bases. A missile launch, even near the island, would materialize North Korea's threat to America.
On account of President Trump's strong rhetoric in his threat to North Korea, Republican Senator John McCain shared his disapproval of Trump's words. In an interview following the threat, McCain declared that he "take[s] exception to the President's comments because you've got to be sure that you can do what you say you're going to do. The great leaders I've seen don't threaten unless they're ready to act and I'm not sure President Trump is ready to act."
While political leaders across both parties shared their views, international stock indexes also appear to be affected by the looming nuclear war between North Korea and America. Stock indexes, an average of different stocks, is commonly used by investors to describe individual markets as a whole, as well as differentiate between returns on different investments. By the end of the week, South Korean stock index the Kospi (KRX: KOSPI) fell 3.2% to its lowest ranking since June 2016. Meanwhile, Japan's stock index Nikkei (INDEXNIKKEI: NI225) decreased 1.1% while China's Hang Sang Index (INDEXHANGSENG: HSI) fell by 2.5%, its lowest weekly amount out of 2017. The pattern of markets decreasing has historically been a reflection of an impending war, which can be shown by the similar decrease of trading occurring before the Iraq War in 2003.
Similar to the tense foreign relations between the U.S, Trump's recent week in office have been characterized by Trump thanking Putin for expelling 755 diplomats in response to the recent Russian sanctions imposed by the U.S. While the removal of American diplomats from Russia have been seen as shameful by some, Trump stated that he wants to "thank [Putin] because we're trying to cut down on our payroll."
