On September 29, 2026, after meeting with AI company leaders at the White House, Trump was asked by a reporter why North Korea can have nuclear weapons when Iran cannot. The United States, alongside Israel, has been at war with Iran since February. Trump answered with his relationship with Kim Jong Un: “He happens to be a friend of mine, Kim Jong Un. He's a friend of mine. He likes Trump. Doesn't like a lot of other people. I'm about the only person in the entire world that he likes, and I like him,” he said, according to Kyodo News. “I get a lot of heat when I say that.”
He acknowledged the arsenal and credited himself with keeping it in check: “He does have a nuclear capacity, a large nuclear, pretty large nuclear, not like us, but he has a nuclear capacity,” and, “But they had presidents that weren't Trump, and they didn't stop. As long as I'm around, he's going to be fine. Why? Because he respects me and he likes me.” Some headlines said Trump called it fine for Kim to have nuclear weapons; he did not use those words.
The answer sits awkwardly with his own government's stated policy. The week before, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts reiterated their “resolute commitment” to the complete denuclearization of North Korea, and in August a State Department spokesperson said, “The United States remains committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.” Trump has said North Korea has 57 nuclear weapons; South Korea's defense minister says it has between 80 and 120 warheads. On August 17 Trump scaled back joint military exercises with South Korea, writing on Truth Social, “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea” (see Praise for Dictators and Authoritarians).