President Trump on Friday said the U.S. will have relations with North Korea, touting his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un, who rules the nuclear-armed country with an iron fist and has soldiers fighting on the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Trump made his remarks standing next to Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who welcomed U.S. engagement with Pyongyang as “positive.” 

“We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un, I got along with them very well,” Trump said during a press conference with Ishiba at the White House. 

Trump held two summits with Kim during his first term, in Vietnam and Singapore, but failed to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization. Still, the president boasted that Kim sent him “love letters,” as an example of their deep bond. 

“We had a good relationship and I think it's a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with him. I get along with him, he gets along with me. And that's a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said. 

Ishiba said it “will be great,” if Trump can offer help in moving North Korea toward denuclearization and called for Pyongyang to return Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the late 1970s. 

“Now that Trump is in power again, if we are able to move toward resolving issues with North Korea I think it will be great,” Ishiba said.  

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