United States President Donald Trump on Friday said he wished people would “sit up at attention” for him as the people of North Korea do for their leader Kim Jong-un.
In an impromptu interview with Fox News, Trump was asked if he’d invite Kim, who he recently met in Singapore, to the White House. “Hey, he’s the head of a country,” Trump said. “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
Later, when asked by reporters what he meant, Trump claimed he had been joking. “I’m kidding. You don’t understand sarcasm,” the president said.
The Kim dynasty has been accused by United Nations investigators and human rights groups of using political prison camps, and employing starvation as a tool to ensure political loyalty. Kim Jong-un is also accused of ordering the assassination of his half-brother in February and the execution of his uncle in 2013.
On Tuesday, Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore, and Washington and Pyongyang establised diplomatic relations. The following day, Trump claimed that the dialogue had helped avert a “potential nuclear catastrophe”.
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