On September 29, 2026, President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un “a friend of mine” while discussing North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Trump said:
“He is a friend of mine. He likes Trump… and I like him.”
Trump also said Kim has a “pretty large” nuclear capability and argued that Kim “respects me and likes me.”
Of course, substantial evidence that suggests Kim Jong-Un and his henchmen are extremely brutal and oppressive. In fact, the North Korean government might be the most brutal and oppressive in the world.
The regime has been evil for decades they haven’t slowed down. Per the U.N. Special Rapporteur (2026) North Korea has increased the number of crimes subject to capital punishment and it was reported by North Korea itself that public executions were being implemented again.
In the early going, people would ask me, "Why don't you like Trump?" Clearly, they had never known me. A big reason I became a conservative was anti-communism: opposition to monstrous dictators, moral clarity on the subject. All of that is gone, absolutely gone, on the right. https://t.co/JTKlwOsjGT
— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) September 29, 2026
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed in March 2026 that “North Korean citizens continue to suffer from severe oppression, repression of freedom of expression and movement, long-term detention, and other gross violations of their human rights.”
Under Kim, the authorities continue to maintain control using executions, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, forced labor, collective punishment, enforced disappearance and pervasive surveillance.
Human Rights Watch also references the U.N.’s prior determination that the systematic violations committed by North Korea constitute international law crimes of humanity.
And let’s not forget about Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student whose detention in North Korea in 2015 and subsequent death in 2017 became one of the most notorious cases involving the two countries.
Kim Jong-Un is evil.
Worrisome: Trump Has Long Expressed Admiration for Kim Jong-Un’s Grip on Power
The strongest evidence that suggests Trump covets Kim Jong-Un’s grip on power comes from the American president’s own earlier statements. In 2016, Trump marveled at how the young Kim took control over powerful generals and eliminated rivals, saying, “You gotta give him credit” and “he’s the boss.” Trump simultaneously called Kim a “maniac,” so those remarks mixed admiration for his consolidation of power with criticism of him as dangerous.
In 2018, Trump described Kim as a “strong head” of his country and remarked that when Kim speaks, “his people sit up at attention,” adding, “I want my people to do the same.” Trump later said that comment was sarcastic.
Sarcastic? A lot of us think he meant it given Trump’s worship of Russian czar Vladimir Putin and praise for his strongman persona.
But this is America and no president, liberal or conservative, should have the absolute power Kim and Putin wield in North Korea and Russia.
In North Korea, you either pretend to worship Kim as a god, or risk certain imprisonment or death.
