Trump says he wants aides to 'sit up at attention' like Kim Jong-un's underlings

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President Trump said he was kidding on Friday when he told 'Fox & Friends' he wishes the White House staff would 'sit up at attention' like Kim Jong-un's aides
Kim's underlings live in constant fear of execution
The third-generation despot has ordered the slaughter of at least 30 of his officials since taking power 7 years ago; one think-tank estimates far more
One official was executed for falling asleep in a meeting, and another for not sitting up straight enough
Kim has ordered executions by firing squad, anti-aircraft gun and flamethrower

By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:32 EDT, 15 June 2018 | Updated: 15:29 EDT, 15 June 2018

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President Donald Trump said Friday that he was impressed with how enthusiastically aides to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un obeyed him during their summit this week in Singapore.

After telling the audience of 'Fox & Friends' that a White House visit with Kim 'could happen,' he complimented the tyrant's authoritarian leadership style.

'Hey, he’s the head of a country. And I mean he is the strong head – don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks, and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same!'

Trump was gesturing to the White House behind him as he commented, suggesting 'my people' referred to his staff, not the overall U.S. population.

President Donald Trump marveled Friday at how dictator Kim Jong-un's aides snapped to atention when he saw them during Tuesday's nuclear summit in Singapore

Trump then said he wished 'my people' would 'sit up at attention' – a reference to his White House staff – but unlike Kim's, they don't live in constant fear of execution

Trump later was asked if he was serious and said he was kidding and being sarcastic – and then mocked the CNN reporter who asked him the question

Trump gave the Fox News Channel show an unscheduled 30-minute interview on the North Lawn of the White House after disappearing from public view on Thursday, his 72nd birthday.

Minutes later, amid a shouting scrum of journalists clustered around him as he wsalked back to the West Wing, the president was asked if he was serious about being impressed with Kim's autocratic management style.

'I’m kidding,' he scolded. 'You don’t understand sarcasm.'

Then the president demanded to know the inquisitive reporter's media affiliation.

'Who are you with?' he asked.

'CNN,' came the reply – the TV outlet he most loves to hate.

'You're with CNN!' Trump boomed. 'Hey, you are the worst!'

Kim's extraordinarily attentive underlings might not get Trump's sense of humor about staff etiquette. The 34-year-old despot has ordered the execution of at least 30 high-ranking officials in the past seven years, and was behind the deadly nerve-agent poisoning of his half-brother Kim Jong-nam last year.

A South Korean think tank, the Institute for National Security Strategy, believes Kim's purge of government officials has been much larger, numbering at least 140 people of the more than 300 he has ordered killed.

Kim Jong-un had his education vice premier Kim Yong Jin (circled) executed by firing squad because he did not sit with proper posture during a meeting

North Korea's defence minister Hyon Yong-Chol was executed by an anti-aircraft gun in Pyongyang after falling asleep during a meeting in 2015

A ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun like this one can shred a person to bits in seconds

Kim's defense ministers, in particular, tend to have short shelf-lives: He purged five of them in the first five years of his reign.

Most of his high-profile victims have met their ends via firing squad, like top education minister Kim Yong-jin in 2016. He was put to death for displaying a 'bad attitude' during the country's Supreme People's Assembly meetings.

His crime consisted of having 'bad sitting posture' in front of his country's ruling despot. He was interrogated and found to be an 'anti-revolutionary agitator.'

Kim Jong-un has ordered more grisly deaths for a few.

In May 2015, Kim had Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol blown to bits with an anti-aircraft gun at a Pyongyang military school, in front of an audience that included members of his family.

He had dozed off during a military ceremony.

General Hwang Pyong-so, once the most senior military official in North Korea and vice-marshall to the supreme leader, frequently snapped to attention but was executed in 2016

In 2017 five senior officials from the State Security Department faced the same fate for issuing what Kim called 'false' reports that were critical of his regime.

Three years earlier, Kim ordered his deputy public security minister O Sang-hon tied to a stake and burned alive with a flamethrower. He had been accused of corruption.

Kim Jong-nam was killed in a nerve-gas poisoining attack last year that was ordered by his half-brother, Kim Jong-un

Less than a year after taking power upon his father's death in 2011, he became enraged by army vice minister Kim Chol 'disrespecting' him – and had him executed on the spot with a military mortar round.

Trump is in the position of having to negotiate with Kim, now armed with weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. president insisted Friday that America now has 'a really great relationship for the first time ever' with the hermit kingdom, and told a reporter that he agreed to Tuesday's Singapore summit because that way 'there won't be nuclear weapons and they won't be aimed at you and your families.'

The White House's openness with Pyongyang is a marked contrast from what the Obama administration called a philosophy of 'strategic patience.'

The Trump doctrine has so far consisted of a 'maximum pressure' campaign that the administration says forced Kim to the bargaining table.

Jang Song-thaek, Kim Jong-un's uncle and the man who was once considered the second most powerful figure in the country, was executed for corruption in 2013

Trump's goal is to force Kim to destroy his nuclear weapons program by tightening a near-global stranglehold over his national economy.

But talks continue, and the president said Friday that Kim knows how to reach him.

'I gave him a very direct number,' the president said. 'He can now call me if he has any difficulties. I can call him. We have communications. It’s a very good thing.'

Kim's most infamous and grisly execution may be a reported slaughter of 11 musicians shortly after he took over the country

The third-generation despot forced 10,000 people to watch the mass bloodshed after the victims were strapped to the end of anti-aircraft guns.

After they were dead, according to one defector, military tanks crushed the remains into the ground.