US President Donald Trump has told a campaign rally that he and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un “fell in love” in their denuclearisation letters to one another.
“I was really being tough, and so was he. And we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love, OK?”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Vox News reports that the audience initially laughed, but that Trump then “reiterated the point - and acknowledged it would probably raise some eyebrows”.
“No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love,” he said. “But you know what? Now they’ll say, ‘Donald Trump said they fell in love, how horrible. How horrible is that? So unpresidential.’”
“Why has President Trump given up so much?” Trump continued in a mock newsreader voice, before adding: “I didn’t give up anything.”
Following months of insults traded between the two, Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore this June, as part of the president’s push to make the North Korean regime dismantle its nuclear programme.
The Trump administration is preparing for a second summit with Kim to continue the denuclearisation talks. The time and location have yet to be announced, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The planned meeting comes amid growing criticism of Trump for repeatedly praising the North Korean leader, with his latest comments drawing further ire.
Many people - including veteran newsreader Dan Rather - have expressed their concerns on Twitter.
Meanwhile, despite the apparent warming of the relationship between North Korea and the US, Kim has not yet complied with Trump’s request for a complete inventory of his country’s weapons programmes, nor begun dismantling them.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, a North Korean representative said the nation will not stand down its nuclear weapons until it has “sufficient trust” in the US, and called on the Trump administration to drop “coercive methods” such as sanctions.
-
The Trump administration says it deports dangerous criminals. ICE data tells a different story.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Arrest data points to an inconvenient truth for the White House’s ongoing deportation agenda
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
-
The real tragedy that inspired ‘Hamlet,’ the life of a pingpong prodigy and the third ‘Avatar’ adventure in December moviesThe Week Recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
-
The Trump administration says it deports dangerous criminals. ICE data tells a different story.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Arrest data points to an inconvenient truth for the White House’s ongoing deportation agenda
-
Trump unveils $12B bailout for tariff-hit farmersSpeed Read The president continues to insist that his tariff policy is working
-
Trump: Losing energy and supportFeature Polls show that only one of his major initiatives—securing the border—enjoys broad public support
-
Is Trump in a bubble?Today’s Big Question GOP allies worry he is not hearing voters
-
Trump’s Comey case dealt new setbackspeed read A federal judge ruled that key evidence could not be used in an effort to reindict former FBI Director James Comey
-
Moscow cheers Trump’s new ‘America First’ strategyspeed read The president’s national security strategy seeks ‘strategic stability’ with Russia
-
Trump’s poll collapse: can he stop the slide?Talking Point President who promised to ease cost-of-living has found that US economic woes can’t be solved ‘via executive fiat’
-
‘These accounts clearly are designed as a capitalist alternative’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
