President Trump said in an impromptu interview on the White House lawn Friday morning that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un “really did hit it off” and suggested the nuclear threat from Pyongyang was a thing of the past.
Speaking with Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends, Trump said he has a “fantastic relationship” with Kim following their summit in Singapore earlier this week. “You know, there were missiles being thought about,” Trump said. “People aren’t thinking about it anymore.” Trump pointed to North Korea’s pause on its nuclear program testing and activity as proof the situation has changed.
“You haven’t had any rockets shot up in the air for seven months. You haven’t had any research. They just blew up their test site. They’re blowing up their engine test site for ballistic missiles,” he said.
North Korea has claimed to have destroyed its Punggye-ri testing site last month, though that has not been indepently verified. It’s also unclear what “engine test site” he is referring to being destroyed. Trump also cited the joint statement he and Kim signed in Singapore.
“It’s in the agreement, it says he will denuclearize,” Trump said. “I signed an agreement where we get everything, everything.” The North Korean regime has promised to denuclearize a dozen times before, including under Kim Jong-un, though there has yet to be any indication they have moved to do so. The most recent significant agreement came in 2012, when Kim suspended its development—only to resume the program to the point where the regime began testing a few years later.
Asked Friday by Doocy when the U.S. might lift sanctions on North Korea, Trump replied, “when we can be sure there will be no more nuclear,” adding that he believes Kim is “very close” to ending his nuclear weapons program.
“We’re very close to getting it started. He wants to do it,” Trump said. “He wants to do something great with his country.”
“He wants to make his country…” and here, Trump paused briefly, as if looking for the right words, “…great.”
And addressing criticism that his summit in Singapore may have given Kim more credibility than the totalitarian strongman deserves, Trump replid, “I think it’s great to give him credibility. Here’s what we get: everything.”
