President Trump on Wednesday issued some surprisingly positive statements regarding North Korea and its expanded nuclear modernization ambitions, while fielding questions from reporters.
The comments come days after the Commander-in-Chief ordered scaled back US-South Korean joint military drills, which are happening this week and are now expected to end early.
Trump has indicated he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un later this year, after breakthrough face-to-face diplomacy with the autocrat during his first term at the White House. According to reports:
Donald Trump said he would meet Kim Jong-un later this year. The US president has privately discussed setting up a face-to-face discussion with the North Korean leader during his next trip to Asia, which could happen in November, according to reports.
He confirmed on Wednesday that the pair had plans to meet later this year.
He stated that the relationship was an asset to the US and the world, before saying: "I get along with him well. And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that’s a very good thing, not a bad thing."
According to more:
“As long as we have a smart president, he’s going to be fine,” Trump said.
Trump’s statement that North Korea has 57 nuclear warheads was within the range of widely reported estimates but was more specific than past U.S. government statements.
“They should have never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them,” Trump said of the North Korean leader.
Trump didn't provide any further details on a potential meeting, and all of this interestingly comes at a time where the White House probably needs a distraction away from the Iran war and Hormuz Strait energy crisis.
The president had earlier in the week described North Korea as a "Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful" - in a post on Truth Social.
Before that, Pyongyang had slammed the drills as a "rehearsal for aggressive war". North Korea's Foreign Ministry had described last Friday that these planned drills look different, and will be more dangerous, compared to all prior ones of the past-half decade, in that they appear offensive in nature as the exercise will focus on modern warfare tactics.
North Korea had further stated: "It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent," and so the country "will more clearly express its stance on the enemies to cope with any threats and challenges through the responsible and decisive exercise of the right to legitimate self-defense."