On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump emphasized his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He claimed that their diplomatic engagement has contributed to the safety of the United States and its allies. Trump’s remarks suggest a continued focus on dialogue with North Korea amid ongoing concerns about nuclear proliferation in the region.
“We had great meetings; we speak. And I think our nation and I think other nations, frankly, whether it’s Japan or South Korea, they’re a lot safer if I’m President than if somebody else is President,” he added. “I didn’t like the fact that we’re doing these massive military exercises really against North Korea. He made us a lot of money. I didn’t like that.
“I was not happy when South Korea said no; they’re not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait, and yet they get 60% of their oil from the Hormuz Strait. During his first term, Trump and Kim held three face-to-face meetings between 2018 and 2019. Their first meeting took place at the Singapore Summit in June 2018, followed by talks in Hanoi in February 2019 and a meeting at the Korean Demilitarized Zone in June 2019, where Trump became the first sitting US President to step into North Korea.
Trump said he did not favour large-scale military exercises with South Korea while maintaining a positive relationship with Kim, calling the drills inappropriate. It was an exercise against North Korea when I’m friendly with him,” Trump said. Trump also said he was unhappy with South Korea’s refusal to assist the US over the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, noting that the country receives a significant portion of its oil supplies through the strategic waterway. I said, ‘Would you like to help us? He said, ‘No, thank you. I said, ‘That’s nice, please, thank you. So I felt that to do a massive… we were doing a massive war exercise, I thought that was very insulting to somebody that frankly has been, during my term at least, very well-behaved,” he said.
