Donald Trump says he and Kim Jong-un ‘fell in love’

DONALD Trump’s bromance with one of the world’s most brutal dictators is getting weirdly intense — and there is something the US President is steadfastly ignoring.

Donald daydreams about his great love, Kim Jong-un. Picture: AP

DONALD Trump’s bromance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is getting weirdly intense.

“I like him. He likes me. I guess that’s OK. Am I allowed to say that?” Mr Trump asked supporters at a rally in West Virginia yesterday.

“I was being really tough and so was he. And we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love. No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. They were great letters. And then we fell in love.”

It is a classic story — the bickering couple who finally stop threatening each other with nuclear war for long enough to admit they share a mutual attraction. And anyone who has seen The Notebook will know the power of a good letter.

They enjoy long walks in the garden together. Picture: AP

Of course, every romance needs a villain, someone smug and contemptible who stands in the protagonist’s way. Think Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cal in Titanic, or Zack “Sack” Lodge in Wedding Crashers.

Mr Trump has already identified his villain — the media.

“You know what? Now they’ll make, they’ll say, ‘Donald Trump said they fell in love, how horrible. How horrible is that? So unpresidential,’” he said.

He is right. Because reluctant as I am to stand between two consenting adults, Kim is, to put it mildly, not a great guy.

I’m not just referring to a bit of infidelity on the side, though Mr Trump might want to keep an eye on Kim’s cosy relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

I’m talking about the whole mad, murderous dictator thing; about Kim’s horrifying treatment of the North Korean people.

An extensive 2014 United Nations report described the crimes of Kim’s regime in excruciating detail, revealing a long list of “unspeakable atrocities” including but not limited to murder, enslavement, torture, forced abortions, sexual violence and deliberate starvation.

According to Human Rights Watch, North Korea “remains one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world” today.

Somehow, the fact that Kim maintains his rule by systematically oppressing and abusing his own citizens has not deterred Mr Trump from falling for him.

The President appears to be in that heady honeymoon phase early in the relationship, when you subconsciously ignore your partner’s flaws — things like chewing with their mouth open, leaving the toilet seat up, or killing off dissidents to tighten their grip on power.

Don’t look so shocked. Picture: AP

The human rights of North Koreans are, quite understandably, a secondary concern for the rest of the world, which is more worried about the regime’s nuclear program.

Mr Trump believes he has convinced Kim to denuclearise, and there are some small but decent signs.

At a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month, Kim made at least one gesture in the right direction.

According to Mr Moon, North Korea agreed to permanently shut down its Tongchang-ri missile engine test site and missile launch facility. It also said it would dismantle its nuclear complex in Nyongbyon — if the US offered some concessions of its own.

Which brings us to the persistent problem in these negotiations. North Korea will not fully give up its nuclear ambitions unless the sanctions that have crippled its economy are lifted. We know that, because it repeatedly says so.

“The US insists on the denuclearisation first and increases the level of pressure by sanctions to achieve their purpose in a coercive manner, even objecting to the declaration of the end of the (Korean) war,” its foreign minister Ri Yong-ho told the United Nations last week.

“Without any trust in the US, there will be no confidence in our national security and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first.

“The perception that sanctions can bring us on our knees is a pipe dream of the people who are ignorant about us. But the problem is that the continued sanctions are deepening our mistrust.”

Nuclear weapons are North Korea’s leverage. Kim will not relinquish them unless he knows his own survival is certain.

“Mr Trump has to get North Korea to pledge that it will abandon its nuclear program in a completely verifiable and irrevocable manner. And in return, the US has to guarantee the survival of the regime,” South Korean Congressman Kim Jon-dae told news.com.au.

Kim is also enjoying a bit of a fling with Moon Jae-in. Picture: AFP

The overriding fear for human rights experts is that the plight of North Korea’s people will be ignored in the push for denuclearisation.

After all, it will be difficult to force Kim to ease the oppression of his people if the sanctions against him are lifted in pursuit of another goal first.

Such an outcome would be defensible. Mr Trump’s highest priority is to defuse the nuclear threat.

But instead of “falling in love”, perhaps he should approach one of the world’s most contemptible dictators with clearer eyes.

“Kim thinks you are less likely to take a hard line against his failure to take any actual steps towards denuclearisation because you don’t want to admit that your love affair is rife with problems,” national security analyst Samantha Vinograd wrote for CNN overnight.

Ms Vinograd served in the administrations of Mr Trump’s predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

“Because North Korea is also still attacking us directly in cyberspace and trying to interfere in our elections, it also looks like you’re willingly part of an abusive relationship,” she said.

“Your loving language will empower Kim and other ‘bad dudes’ to think they can act maliciously, so long as they remember to write you a sycophantic letter while they do.”

Kim has been rather nice to Mr Trump in his letters, referring to the US President as “your excellency”. In return, Mr Trump has praised Kim in fulsome terms, calling him a “very honourable” and “very smart” leader who “loves his country very much”.