The people of North Korea "love" the country's leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday.
"His country does love him," Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos following his summit with Kim.
"His people, you see the fervor. They have a great fervor. They're gonna put it together, and I think they're going to end up with a very strong country, and a country which has people -- that they're so hard working, so industrious."
When Stephanopoulos pressed Trump, saying "just a few months ago you accused him of starving his people" and asked how can you trust a killer like Kim who is a brutal dictator who runs a police state, forced starvation, labor camps and has assassinated members of his own family," Trump said, "I'm given what I'm given, okay? I mean, this is what we have, and this is where we are, and I can only tell you from my experience, and I met him, I've spoken with him, and I've met him."
Adding: "We're starting from scratch. We're starting right now, and we have to get rid of those nuclear weapons."
The president also said that he trusts Kim, although Trump admitted that "will I come back to you in a year and you'll be interviewing and I'll say, gee I made a mistake? That's always possible."
But Trump insisted that Kim "trusts me, I believe, I really do. I mean, he said openly, and he said it to a couple of reporters that were with him that he knows that no other president ever could have done this... I think he trusts me, and I trust him."
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