(Trump Inauguration) Trump calls N. Korea ‘nuclear power,’ says Kim will be happy to see his presidential comeback

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday described North Korea as a “nuclear power” and anticipated that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be “happy” to see his return to the White House.

During a press availability at the Oval Office, Trump made his first public mention of the recalcitrant regime since he was sworn in as the United States’ 47th president in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington earlier in the day.

“I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him. We got along very well. They thought that was a tremendous threat,” Trump told reporters as he signed a series of executive orders at the office.

“He is a nuclear power. We got along. I think he will be happy to see me coming back,” he added.

His remarks come amid expectations that Trump might seek to revive his direct diplomacy with Kim, given that he repeatedly boasted about his personal ties with the reclusive leader on the campaign trail. During his first term, Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim, including the first-ever summit in Singapore in 2018.

It remains uncertain what the president meant by his reference to North Korea as a nuclear power, a term that U.S. officials have mostly been reluctant to use, given that it could be seen as Washington’s recognition of Pyongyang’s nuclear program at the expense of its nonproliferation efforts.

During a Senate confirmation hearing last week, Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth also called the North a “nuclear power.”

The term “nuclear power” is different from the nuclear-weapon states — the U.S., China, France, Britain and Russia — that are officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, better known as the NPT.

Uncertainty lingers over the prospects for the resumption of nuclear diplomacy between the U.S. and the North as Pyongyang’s appetite for engagement with Washington might have lessened considering that it now relies on Russia for food, fuel, security assurances and other forms of support.