The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
Mar 19, 2024
Trump discusses Kim Jong-Un: "He speaks and his people sit up at attention'
Fox News
As the build-up to the next US presidential election continues, a 2018 clip has resurfaced of former Potus and the Republican Party’s “presumptive 2024 nominee” Donald Trump telling Fox News he wants Americans to “sit up at attention” when he speaks like North Koreans do with dictator Kim Jong-un.
Speaking to Fox and Friends outside the White House as president, Trump said of the Supreme Leader: “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
Trump later told other reporters that he was “joking” when he made the remarks.
They came just days after the ex-Apprentice star jetted off to Singapore for a historic summit with the North Korean leader, which Trump said had gone “better than anybody expected”.
A joint statement from the two leaders saw Trump commit to providing “security guarantees” to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while his North Korean counterpart “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
Despite this, North Korea would continue to carry out missile tests years later. Japan had to tell Tokyo citizens to take cover in October 2022 when a missile was fired over the country, and in January this year, North Korea said it had carried out an “important” test of its underwater nuclear weapons system.
Alongside its military testing, North Korea is known for its human rights abuses, with humanitarian organisation Amnesty International saying that under Kim Jong-un’s leadership, the country is “violating every conceivable human right”.
“The government represses all forms of freedom of expression and opinion; it does not allow any organised political opposition, independent media, free trade unions, civil society organisations, or religious freedom,” its profile on the state reads.
As such, a US president making comparisons to the totalitarian regime has been met with concern – both when the comments were first made and now, when footage of Trump making the remarks resurfaced this week:
Trump is all but certain to take on Democrat candidate Joe Biden once again in this year’s presidential election, due to take place on 5 November.
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