Alexander Smith - NBC News
The president, Donald Trump, assures that his personal relationship with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un avoided a “great war”, according to the interviews included in the new book by the prestigious journalist Bob Woodward.
Trump gave new details of his atypical friendship with Kim, one of the most tyrannical rulers in the world, and told Woodward how the two exchanged letters and personal photos, according to his new book
Rage
(rabies, in Spanish).
"I was fully prepared to proceed," Trump told Woodward in December 2019 of Kim's willingness to launch an attack
, according to excerpts from the book released this week.
"And I was hoping to proceed. But we met," he adds.
Trump noted that if he were not president "we would have entered a great war."
President Trump with dictator Kim Jong Un on the line dividing North and South Korea on June 30, 2019. Getty Images
For its part, an excerpt published by
The Washington Post
alludes to Trump accusing the CIA of "having no idea" of how to handle
North Korea, whose nuclear arsenal continues to grow and is increasingly sophisticated.
Although he was heavily criticized at the time, Trump told the journalist that he "did not give in at all" to meet with Kim and that it only took him two days.
"A fucking good deal," the president said.
[Trump's birthday greeting did not convince Kim Jong Un and the nuclear negotiation remains frozen]
Many experts disagree, maintaining that Trump damaged global efforts to curb the North Korean government by meeting with Kim, a meeting in which he obtained few concessions in return.
Before his relationship with Kim took hold, Trump was accused of stoking tensions with North Korea when he promised "fire and fury" against the regime and disparaging its leader on Twitter.
The then Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, confessed that these taunts were "unproductive, childish and dangerous," according to an excerpt from Woodward's book, published by CNN.
US officials and most experts agree
that North Korea is unlikely to abandon its nuclear arsenal
.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo, on details of the book related to foreign policy.
Trump described the book on Wednesday as "another political success."
They fear Trump has given too much to Kim Jong Un
June 12, 201802: 42
In 18 interviews Trump gave Woodward, the president told him how his relationship with Kim has developed over the past three years.
"Have you ever done more than send rockets into the air?"
Trump asked Kim during his failed February 2019 summit in Vietnam, according to another of the excerpts released by CNN.
"Let's watch a movie together. Let's play golf," he added.
Last year, after Trump proudly showed Woodward images of him becoming the first president to enter North Korea, he recounted their dialogue with the journalist.
"That's the line - referring to the point that divides North and South Korea - right? Then I walked the line. Pretty good. You know? Pretty good. Right?"
"No one has ever done that," Trump brags about the moment he stepped onto North Korean territory.
Trump later sent Kim a copy of The New York Times newspaper about their encounter.
[Does North Korea have the capacity to launch a nuclear attack?]
"President, great picture of you, big," he wrote with marker, according to the book, incorrectly telling Woodward that Kim "never smiled before."
"I am the only one with whom he smiles," he said.
North Korea rebuilds missile base
March 6, 201900: 30
Kim "tells me everything," including a graphic account of how he got his uncle killed, according to Trump, as it appears in the book.
She also claims that Kim thought former President Barack Obama was "an idiot."
Trump recalled thinking of Kim as "slop" before meeting Kim and how he was "a lot smarter" than he thought.
Kim reciprocated and called Trump "his excellence" in letters, the book says.
According to another excerpt published by The New York Times, Trump described his chemistry with the North Korean leader as that which arises in a relationship: "You meet a woman. In a second, you know whether it will work or not."