North Korean defector criticizes Trump’s praise of Kim Jong Un

A North Korean defector says in a new interview that President Trump is wrong to state that Kim Jong Un “loves his people.”

Yeonmi Park told Hill.TV’s “Rising” that the North Korean leader often uses starvation as a tactic against his own people as a means of controlling the population.

“If that was true, why would I even be here? I would not be sitting in this place,” Park told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball about Kim loving his people.

“Kim Jong Un loves the power that his country gives him, and that power he can get from people. But he doesn’t love people,” Park said.

“He uses starvation as a tool to control the country. He has enough resources and power to build the nukes, so it does not make any sense that he cannot feed his own people,” she added.

{mosads}

“I don’t know where Trump gets that idea, that he loves people,” Park said. “He killed his own brother.”

Trump made the remark to Voice of America’s Greta Van Susteren after his historic summit with the North Korean leader this week, also praising Kim’s “great personality” despite the numerous human rights abuses Kim’s government is accused of perpetrating.

“Really, he’s got a great personality,” Trump told Van Susteren. “He’s a funny guy, he’s very smart, he’s a great negotiator.”

Trump added in the interview that what was not surprising was that Kim “loves his people.”

During an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump again defended Kim, arguing that Kim’s citizens show great “fervor” for their leader.

“His country does love him,” Trump said in the interview with ABC.

“You see the fervor” the North Koreans have for Kim, he said.

“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,” Trump added.

The summit this week resulted in the signing of an agreement between the two leaders that promised the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for unspecified security guarantees from the U.S. government.