"Kim Jong-un Likes Me"... Blames Biden for North Korea's Nuclear Arms

[Anchor]

While tensions between the two Koreas are rising due to the North Korean military landmine incident, U.S. President Donald Trump has once again flaunted his close relationship with Kim Jong-un. Calling Kim Jong-un a friend, he also made remarks acknowledging North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.

Gwak Sang-eun reports.

[Reporter]

U.S. President Donald Trump once again treated North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons as a fait accompli on the 29th local time.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: Kim Jong-un has a nuclear capability. A substantial nuclear capability. Not as much as us, but he has a nuclear capability.]

At the same time, he called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "friend."

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: Kim Jong-un is my friend. He likes Trump. I'm probably the only person in the world he likes.]

He also claimed that there would be no problems with North Korea while he is president.

When asked why Iran is not allowed to have nuclear weapons while North Korea is, he shifted the blame to the preceding Biden administration.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: That's an interesting question. You know why? Because the president was someone else (Biden). They could have stopped him back then, but they didn't.]

Trump's remarks came just a day after North Korea claimed in a UN General Assembly speech that its status as a nuclear-armed state is irreversible.

[Kim Son-gyong / North Korean Vice Foreign Minister (U.S. local time on the 28th): We once again reaffirm the official stance of the government of the Republic that the status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state cannot be reversed under any circumstances or by anything.]

Last month, Trump also ordered a sharp scale-back of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills, followed by specifying the number of North Korean nuclear weapons at 57.

This is interpreted as an intention to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without the condition of "denuclearization."

With the Korean Peninsula issue also discussed at the U.S.-China summit last week, attention is focusing on whether a North Korea-U.S. summit could take place during the APEC summit in China in November.

Meanwhile, U.S. NK News reported through satellite image analysis that construction on a new annex building at the Yongbyon uranium enrichment facility is progressing rapidly.

NK News reported that this construction is being rushed immediately after leader Kim Jong-un ordered an exponential increase in nuclear weapons in June.

(Video Editing: Cho Mu-hwan, Design: Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.