Donald Trump, who recently said he and Kim Jong Un "fell in love" has bristled in a US TV interview when told the North Korean leader presides over "a cruel kingdom of repression".
Mr Trump told supporters earlier this month at a political rally he and Kim "fell in love".
"He wrote me beautiful letters. And they’re great letters. We fell in love," he said.
Veteran CBS 60 Minutes journalist Leslie Stahl read Mr Trump what she described as Mr Kim's "resume".
"He presides over a cruel kingdom of repression. Gulags, starvation, reports that he had his half-brother assassinated, slave labour, executions - this is a guy you love?" she asked.
Mr Trump responded: "I know all these things. I mean, I’m not a baby. I know these things."
He said his "love" comment was a a figure of speech.
"Look. Look. I like, I get along with him, OK?" he said.
"Let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him, I have a good chemistry with him. Look at the horrible threats that were made. No more threats. No more threats."
Mr Trump said that the day before he came into power, we were going to war with North Korea. I think it was going to end up in war".
"Now you don’t hear that. You don’t hear any talk of it. And he [Kim Jong Un] doesn't want to go to war, and we don't want to go to war, and he understands denuclearisation and he's agreed to it," he added.
"I do trust him. I trust him. That doesn’t mean I can’t be proven wrong." the President said.
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