--- title: Donald Trump: I Have a 'Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un description: President Donald Trump, who has called Kim Jong-Un, "Rocket Man" said that he has a "very good relationship" with the Korean dictator canonical: https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-11T22:04:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:51:17.776Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says He Has a 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un og:description: "I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un" og:url: https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3bfeefe9fcb507/6988f7e1929fad0e7bbef31f/gettyimages-9012172981.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5054 og:image:height: 2843 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says He Has a 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un twitter:description: "I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3bfeefe9fcb507/6988f7e1929fad0e7bbef31f/gettyimages-9012172981.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He Has a 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 11, 2018 10:04 PM UTC  President Donald Trump during a meeting with Republican members of the Senate about immigration at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4, 2018. President Donald Trump during a meeting with Republican members of the Senate about immigration at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4, 2018. Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jan 11, 2018 10:04 PM UTC President Trump, who has [repeatedly called Kim Jong-Un “Rocket Man”](http://time.com/5091215/donald-trump-north-korea-talks/) and his government a “band of criminals” while threatening to destroy the country with “fire and fury,” said Thursday that he has a “very good relationship” with the Korean dictator. In an [interview with the Wall Street _Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-signals-openness-to-north-korea-diplomacy-in-interview-1515705497), Trump said he may be open to diplomatic meetings with North Korea after months of trading insults and threats over its nuclear weapons program. “I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” Mr. Trump said in the Thursday interview. “I have relationships with people. I think you people are surprised.” Trump has made dramatic switches in the past with other opponents, though typically the stakes were political and did not involve international diplomacy. During the Republican presidential primary, he lambasted fellow candidates Ben Carson and Rick Perry, who harshly criticized him in return. Both men are now in his Cabinet. He once described his relationship with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — whose father he insinuated was part of the JFK assassination and whose wife he insulted as unattractive — as “Like. Dislike. Like.” “You’ll see that a lot with me,” he said, referring to his tweets attacking Kim. “and then all of the sudden somebody’s my best friend. I could give you 20 examples. You could give me 30\. I’m a very flexible person.” Trump recently told South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he’s willing to speak with Noth Korea “under the right circumstances,” while Moon said Trump deserves “big credit” for helping spark the first talks between North and South Korea in more than two years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He Has a 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un","datePublished":"2018-01-11T22:04:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:51:17.776Z","description":"\"I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un\"","url":"https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3bfeefe9fcb507/6988f7e1929fad0e7bbef31f/gettyimages-9012172981.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc3bfeefe9fcb507/6988f7e1929fad0e7bbef31f/gettyimages-9012172981.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP","creditText":"Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5100039/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-good-relationship/","name":"President Trump Says He Has a 'Very Good Relationship' With Kim Jong-Un"}}]}] ```