Donald Trump met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un during a summit in 2019 which he ultimately withdrew from early - despite this he has spoken cordially about the communist leader
Donald Trump urged Kim Jong-un to "go to the beach, relax" and claims to have healed the US' relationship with North Korea.
The Republican presidential candidate shared how he got to know the North Korean dictator "very well," despite having hit out against him as a "little rocket man." Speaking to popular podcast host Joe Rogan, Mr Trump said at the end of his presidential term "we had no problem with North Korea" after he told the tyrant to stop building nuclear weapons.
Mr Trump met with Kim Jong-un during a 2019 summit in Vietnam, although the US cut the meeting short. It had been arranged in a bid to resolve the Korean conflict and remove nuclear weapons from North Korea.
Several months after the summit, North Korea tested ballistic missiles that appeared to violate an agreement made to Mr Trump. But the former president said he did not view it as a broken promise - North Korea continued to test missiles into 2020 and then into the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr Trump said: "I said: 'Do you ever do anything else? Why don't you go take it easy? Go to the beach, relax. I said, "You're always building nuclear, you don't have to do it. Relax!" I said, "Let's build some condos on your shore.'"
He also claimed on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine had he been president. Mr trump added: "I said, 'Vladimir [Putin], you're not going in. I used to talk to him all the time.
"I can't tell you what I told him, because I think it would be inappropriate, but someday he'll tell you, but he would have never gone in." Mr Trump further claimed Putin invaded Ukraine as he "doesn't respect Biden at all."
The Republican nominee then revealed he believed he made "bad choices" when discussing previous cabinet appointments, according to MailOnline. Mr Rogan then asked if that had been a reference to "neocons" (neo-conservatives). "Yeah, neocons," Mr Trump replied. "Or bad people, or disloyal people."
Mr Trump has long placed loyalty to him as a key attribute to people working with him. In 2017, former FBI Director James Comey claimed in his book "A Higher Loyalty" that Trump said: "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty." In the US, public officials swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution rather than to a particular figure.
Mr Rogan previously said he would not have Mr Trump on his podcast as he did not want to help the Republicans. But he faced an intense backlash after he appeared to endorse Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president before the candidate pulled out and backed the Republican candidate.
Mr Trump now finds himself in a tight race for the White House against Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. Various polls show either Mr Trump or Ms Harris leading the race with the outcome likely to come down to a small number of so-called swing states.
The US election will be held on November 5, although the outcome might not be known the same day due to how ballots are counted in several states.
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