Trump impressed by how North Koreans ‘sit up at attention’ for Kim Jong Un

President says he wants ‘my people to do
the same’

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However, Trump’s most controversial remarks came when Fox
News reporter Steve Doocy asked about the North Korean
dictator.

“He is the head of a country and I mean he is
the strong head,” Trump said.

“Don’t let anyone think anything different. He
speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do
the same.”

Pressed to expand on that final comment, Trump
later said he was “kidding”.

Since returning from Singapore, where the two leaders signed a landmark joint statement on Tuesday,
Trump has been lavishing praise on the North Korean dictator.

In an interview earlier this week, Trump
applauded the way Kim had taken over control of North Korea as
Supreme Leader following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in
2011.

“If you can do that at 27 years old, I mean
that’s one in 10,000 that could do that,” said the president,
adding: “He’s a very smart guy, he’s a great
negotiator.”

Despite such praise, newly emerging insider
reports from the talks suggest that the summit did not go as
smoothly as Trump might suggest.

Delicate preparations for the on-again, off-again
talks were apparently almost thrown out of balance last Sunday,
when an “antsy and bored” Trump tried to have his meeting with Kim
brought forward by a day, according to The Washington Post, which cites two
sources.

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders eventually convinced Trump to
stick to the agreed-upon date,” says Business Insider.

The persuasive pair reportedly reminded the ratings-conscious
president that “changing the date from Tuesday to Monday could
adversely affect television coverage, as it would be Sunday night
in the United States”, CNN reports.