dpa
washington
United States President Donald Trump has described North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “a friend” and played down concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, saying, “as long as I’m around, he’s going to be fine”.
Trump made the remarks in Washington, DC, on Tuesday after a reporter asked him why North Korea could have nuclear weapons but Iran could not.
“That’s interesting. You know why? Because you had a different president, and they could have stopped him,” he said, referring to previous US administrations.
“He happens to be a friend of mine, Kim Jong-un, he’s a friend of mine. He likes Trump, doesn’t like a lot of other people. I’m about the only person in the entire world that he likes, and I like him,” he said.
He said North Korea’s nuclear capacity was “pretty large” but “not like us”.
“You know what, as long as I’m around, he’s going to be fine,” he added. “You know why? Because he respects me and he likes me.”
South Korea’s Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said last week that its northern neighbour possessed between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads. The figure is significantly higher than Trump’s recent assertion that Pyongyang has 57 nuclear weapons.
