Obama: Trump 'Doesn't Know Much' About the World

...or foreign policy, or nuclear policy, or Korea
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2016 7:34 AM CDT
Obama: Trump 'Doesn't Know Much' About the World
President Obama arrives for the afternoon plenary session of the Nuclear Security Summit, Friday, April 1, 2016, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

At the end of the Nuclear Security Summit on Friday, President Obama took a question on the man the Economist deems a top global risk: Donald Trump. When asked about Trump's recent suggestion that Japan and South Korea get their own nuclear weapons to deal with any threat for North Korea, Obama said Trump simply doesn't know what he's talking about, the New York Times reports. The remarks "tell us the person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy, or nuclear policy, or the Korean Peninsula, or the world generally," Obama told reporters at the Washington, DC summit. Leaders in the region have also dismissed the suggestion, which analysts say would go against more than 60 years of US policy.

Obama said Trump's remarks came up "on the sidelines" of the summit, which focused on the threat of nuclear terrorism and was attended by dozens of world leaders, reports NBC. "I said before that people pay attention to American elections," Obama said. "What we do is really important to the rest of the world. Even in those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to US elections." Obama was also asked who he voted for in the Illinois Democratic primary. "It's a secret ballot, isn't it?" he said. (Earlier in the summit. Obama said ISIS getting its hands on a nuclear weapon "would change our world.")

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