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President Trump at the White House defended his meeting with Kim Jong-un
He got asked how he could have said the dictator 'loves' his people and compared human rights abuses there to other countries
'I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family'
'I did a great job this week'
Trump said'we're well on our way to get denuclearization' of North Korea

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.s. Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 09:57 EDT, 15 June 2018 | Updated: 14:24 EDT, 15 June 2018

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President Donald Trump defended his summit meeting Kim Jong-un and his statements vouching for the North Korean dictator's love of his people, saying his actions potentially saved millions of lives.

With only a four-part joint statement on the books and not time-frames or mechanisms for ridding the hermetic nation of its nuclear weapons on the books, Trump declared his policy already a success.

'I did a great job this week. The fake news said, "Oh, you met,"' Trump complained in an impromptu press conference on the North Lawn of the White House Friday.

'One broadcast said: "He gave up so much,"' Trump vented.

President Trump defended his North Korea summit at the White House on Friday

'You know what I gave up? I met. I met, We met, we had great chemistry. He gave us a lot. You haven’t had a missile test in seven months,' he said, referencing North Koreans refrain from provocative ballistic missile launches.

'You haven’t had a firing. You haven’t had a nuclear test in 8 ½ months. You haven’t had missiles flying over Japans,' he said.

'He gave us the remains of our great heroes,' Trump said, nothing North Korea has pledged to return remains of U.S. soldiers from the Korean war.

'How can he love his people if he’s killing them?' asked a reporter, referencing Trump's series of comments praising Kim, despite North Korean work camps, a gulag system, political killings, and occasional famine.

'I can’t speak to that. I can only speak to the fact that we signed an incredible agreement. It’s great. And it’s going to be great for them too. Because now North Korea can develop and North Korea can become a great country economically it can become whatever they want but there won’t be nuclear weapons and it won’t be aimed at you and your family,' he said.

'I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family'

'We met, we had great chemistry,' Trump said of his summit with Kim Jong-un

Trump drew on emotional language when a reporter asked how he could essentially defend North Korea's human rights record despite the kidnapping that resulted in the death of Otto Warmbier, a deceased former American hostage Trump and diplomats helped free.

'You know why? Because I don’t want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family,' Trump said.

'I don’t want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family. I want to have a good relationship with North Korea.'

'When I came in people thought we were probably going to war with North Korea. If we did, millions of people would have been killed,' Trump said.

Trump was responding to criticism that he gave Kim the propaganda win of a summit without getting more concessions on denuclearization, and didn't lock in a plan to get there.

'And now we're well on our way to get denuclearization. And the agreement says there will be total denuclearization. Nobody wants to report that,' Trump said.

Trump also said it was his idea to suspend joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises that many military leaders consider essential to South Korea's defense, but North Korea has long considered an irritant.

'I call them war games. I hated them from the day I came in,' Trump said. A reporter told Trump that 'war games' was the way North Korea describes the exercises.

'That’s my term. They might use it,' Trump said.

'I said I’d like to halt it … it costs us a lot of money. I saved a lot of money,' he said.