송상호
| 2026-09-30 06:06:40
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a "pretty large" nuclear arsenal and will be "fine" as long as he is "around," calling Kim "a friend of mine" and claiming that Kim respects him.
Trump made the remarks during a press availability following his meeting with top executives of artificial intelligence firms, responding to a reporter's question about why North Korea can have nuclear weapons when he has said Iran cannot have nuclear arms.
"As long as I am around, he's going to be fine," Trump said at the White House. "You know why? He respects me and likes me."
Trump pointed out failures by past U.S. administrations to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.
"(Kim) does have a nuclear capacity, a large nuclear, pretty large nuclear (capacity), not like us, but he has a nuclear capacity," he said.
"You know why? Because they had presidents that didn't do what I did ... That could have been stopped. You know that. But they had presidents that weren't Trump, and they didn't stop."
The president also highlighted his friendship with the North Korean leader.
"He is a friend of mine. He likes Trump. (He) doesn't like a lot of other people. I am about the only person in the entire world that he likes, and I like him," he said. "I get a lot of heat when I say that. People say that's terrible."
Trump's claim about his ties with Kim came as he has expressed his intention to meet the North Korean leader later this year.
Speculation has continued that Trump might seek to reengage with Kim during his next trip to Asia, likely for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November.
Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term: the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom.
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