Trump says North Korean victims of Kim's human rights violations are 'great winners' of the summit

Donald Trump Singapore news conference.
(Image credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump says he only discussed North Korea's human rights violations with leader Kim Jong Un "relatively briefly," but he thinks the prisoners held captive in North Korean gulags will turn out to be "great winners" anyway.

One reporter asked Trump whether he "betrayed" the 100,000 North Koreans who are being forcibly detained, but the president said he's "helped them" by meeting in a summit with Kim, predicting that "things will change."

"I think I've helped them," said Trump. "There's nothing I can say. All I can do is what I can do. We have to stop the nuclearization. We have to do other things, and that's a very important thing."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up

Trump also suggested that Kim would change his ways when it comes to human rights, even though the agreement the two leaders signed doesn't reference the issue. "But not much I can do right now," continued Trump. "At a certain point, I really believe he's going to do things about it. I think they are one of the great winners today, that large group of people that you're talking about."

Explore More
Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.