Trump clarifies Kim ‘relationship’ quote
PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump on Sunday disputed a newspaper’s account of an interview with him last week in which he was quoted as saying he probably has a very good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr Trump said in tweets that in The Wall Street Journal interview on Thursday, he said “I’d probably” have a good relationship with Kim, using a conditional tense.
The White House released a portion of the audio from the interview that it said showed Trump said “I’d.” The Wall Street Journal released its own audio that it said backed up its version of the events.
The Trump comment was key because it suggested he feels he has a good relationship with Mr Kim, who has resisted global pressure to stand down from a series of nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
Mr Trump has derided the North Korean leader as a “maniac” and referred to him as “little rocket man”.
Mr Kim has responded by calling the US president a “mentally deranged dotard”.
The North Korean leader has also warned Washington that he intends to build a nuclear arsenal capable of hitting the United States, prompting threats of military action by Washington.
In the interview, Mr Trump was asked whether he has spoken with the North Korean leader.
“I don’t want to comment on it. I‘m not saying I have or haven’t. I just don’t want to comment,” he said.
Mr Trump is spending a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
“Obviously I didn’t say that,” tweeted Mr Trump. “I said ‘I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un,’ a big difference.
“Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters ... and they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!”
A White House official said a correction had been requested.