‘He didn't like Biden, Obama but he likes me’: Trump touts Kim Jong-un relationship
Key Takeaways
- Trump said he maintains a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
- He said the relationship makes the US, South Korea and Japan safer.
- Trump criticised South Korea over the Strait of Hormuz and reduced joint military exercises.
Trump says his ties with Kim Jong-un make the region safer as he criticises South Korea and scales back joint military exercises.
US President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "likes me" as he discussed their relationship at the White House on Wednesday, after earlier revealing plans to meet the DPRK leader later this year.
"I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un, as you know, you've seen. He didn't like Biden. He didn't like Obama. He didn't like anybody, but he likes me. And I like, you know, I just got along with him very good. We had great meetings. We speak. And I think our nation and I think other nations, frankly, whether it's Japan or South Korea, they're a lot safer if I'm president than if somebody else is president," he said.
Trump also discussed South Korea after scaling back military exercises with the country.
"I was not happy when South Korea said, no, they're not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait," Trump continued. "And yet they get 60 percent of the oil from the Hormuz Strait. I said, would you like to help us? He said, 'No, thank you'. I said, 'That's nice. Please, thank you'. He made us a lot of money. I didn't like that. So I felt that to do a massive, we were doing a massive war exercise. I thought that was very insulting to somebody that, frankly, has been, during my term at least, very well behaved."
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Trump said on Sunday that he would reduce military exercises with South Korea shortly before the latest drills were due to begin.
His decision followed a dispute over South Korea and other US allies not helping with Iran as much as Trump expected.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
