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Donald Trump goes to shake hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a visit to the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in 2019. Photo: Dong-A Ilbo/Getty Images/TNS

Donald Trump defends North Korea’s ‘not happy’ Kim Jong-un after missile launches: ‘he feels threatened’

  • Trump said Kim was ‘not happy’ with ‘extremely expensive and provocative’ US-South Korea military drills that Seoul ‘pays us very little to do’
  • The former US president has claimed that during his term in the White House he formed a close relationship with the North Korean dictator
North Korea
Former President Donald Trump has defended Kim Jong-un after a series of recent missile launches, saying the North Korean dictator felt “threatened” by planned military exercises by the United States and its South Korean allies.

In a post on his Truth Social page, Trump claimed that during his term in the White House he had formed a close relationship with Kim.

“Kim Jung [sic] Un of North Korea, who I got to know and got along with very well during my years as president, is not happy with the US and South Korea doing big training and air exercises together,” Trump wrote. “He feels threatened.”

Trump went on to complain that South Korea “pays us very little to do these extremely expensive and provocative drills. It’s really ridiculous.”

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North Korea’s nuclear power on display amid its largest-ever parade of ICBMs

North Korea’s nuclear power on display amid its largest-ever parade of ICBMs

In recent weeks tensions have escalated between North Korea and South Korea, a key regional ally of the US, amid a series of provocations by Kim.

On Saturday, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan. The tests were a warning to South Korea and the US over extensive military exercises planned over the next few weeks, North Korea said.
In response, South Korea, Japan and the US staged joint air drills featuring a strategic bomber and stealth fighters.

North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned by the UN, but the reclusive state has continued to develop them and menace its neighbours with them.

North Korean nuclear tests pose radiation risks for China, Japan, Seoul: report

Earlier in February, Kim attended a military parade in Pyongyang where multiple ICBMs were showcased. It’s the highest number of the weapons North Korea has displayed and analysts believe the missiles have the capacity to hit the US, and could be used in a nuclear strike.
Trump during his term in office frequently boasted of the close relationship he’d formed with Kim, and of the “love letters” they’d exchanged.
He set up a series of high-profile summits with the dictator that resulted in little concrete diplomatic progress in attempts to curtail North Korea’s nuclear programme, while lambasting South Korea for allegedly freeloading from the US.
In recent years, negotiations between North Korea and the US have stalled. Trump has launched a bid for the presidency in 2024.
This article was first published on Business Insider
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