Former President Donald Trump has said his strategy in North Korea prevented 40,000 American soldiers stationed in Korea from being killed in a possible nuclear war.
Trump said this in the viral Debate Night interview with Tucker Carlson aired on X, formerly known as Twitter on Wednesday night.
The former president said other world leaders like Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China had a very high opinion of him as American leader but the same could not be said for his successor, Joe Biden.
He said it was due to his intervention that the 2018 Olympics in South Korea was held, saying many countries were wary of participating to avoid getting caught in between the tensions simmering between the hosts and their northern neighbour.
On June 12, 2018, the Singapore Summit was held between then-President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un, the first-ever meeting between leaders of North Korea and the United States.
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The two leaders signed a joint statement, agreeing to security guarantees for North Korea, new peaceful relations, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers’ remains, and follow-up negotiations between high-level officials.
Trump described the two meetings he had with Kim as “unbelievable”, adding that under his administration, America was in “great shape” with North Korea.
“I did a great job with North Korea. I kept us out of a nuclear war. We would have 40,000 dead soldiers right now. They’d drop a nuke right on top of the military base. But we have 40,000 soldiers over there. I did great. I go along with him great. So that’s a positive.”
The 2024 Republican presidential aspirant faulted the media for accusing him of sucking up to Kim, noting that he also said horrible things to the North Korean leader at the beginning which helped to get him to the negotiation.
On the perception world leaders have of Biden, Trump said, “I think they can’t believe it…They had great respect for our country. They had great respect for me when I was there. Every one of them.”
According to him, the continuation of Obama’s policy in Korea could have triggered a nuclear war, same as if Hillary Clinton had succeeded the 44th president.