Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before the end of the year, while also saying that North Korea possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
“Yes, I will meet with him,” the U.S. president replied when asked about it by reporters while touring construction projects underway at the White House.
He even gave an unusually precise official estimate of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and added: “This should never have happened. If I were president, I would not have allowed it.”
But he again said that he “gets along very well” with Kim Jong Un.
The U.S. president’s remarks came after he ordered Pentagon officials to reduce the participation of the U.S. military in the annual joint military exercises with South Korea because of his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un.
“I know Kim Jong Un very well, and everything will be fine as long as we have a smart president. The fact that I get along with him—that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “They never should have allowed it. If I were president, I would not have allowed it. But he has them.”
There have been varying estimates from experts over the years regarding how many nuclear weapons North Korea possesses. In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that the Asian country had “probably assembled around 60 warheads and possesses enough fissile material to produce at least another 30.”
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