Candidates challenging Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination swiped at him for congratulating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Truth Social.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several Republican presidential candidates took aim at former President Donald Trump for praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after the hermit kingdom was elected to the executive board of the World Health Organization last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCongratulations to Kim Jung [sic] Un!\u201d Trump wrote Friday on his social media platform, Truth Social.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Trump\u2019s post at GOP Sen. Joni Ernst’s \u201cRoast and Ride\u201d event Saturday in Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKim Jong Un is a thug and a tyrant, and he has tested ballistic missiles against our allies,\u201d Haley told NBC News. \u201cHe\u2019s threatened us. There\u2019s nothing to congratulate him about. I mean, he\u2019s been terrible to his people. He\u2019s been terrible to America, and we need to stop being nice to countries that hate America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeSantis said he was \u201csurprised\u201d Trump praised Kim, whom he called a \u201cmurderous dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is expected to announce a presidential bid this week, criticized Trump for congratulating Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether it’s my former running mate or anyone else, nobody should be praising the dictator in North Korea or praising the leader in Russia, who has launched an unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine,\u201d Pence said Saturday in an interview with Fox News. \u201cThis is a time when we ought to make it clear to the world that we stand for freedom and we stand with those who stand for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also piled on Trump in a tweet Saturday: \u201cKim Jong-Un, the tyrant dictator in North Korea should not be praised by Donald Trump for a leadership role in the World Health Organization. We sanction leaders who oppress their people. We do not elevate them on the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who has ruled out running for president but recently hosted a private donor retreat to raise money for GOP candidates, joined the fray as well. \u201cTaking our country back from Joe Biden does not start with congratulating North Korea\u2019s murderous dictator,\u201d he tweeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kemp drew Trump\u2019s ire after he refused to push baseless claims of election fraud in Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung attacked DeSantis in a statement, arguing that the Iowa event, which Trump did not attend, would not affect Trump’s status as the front-runner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“President Trump achieved peace through strength and, as a result, no new wars were started under his presidency. On the other hand, Ron DeSantis is a puppet of the establishment war mongers and doesn\u2019t have the strength, fortitude, or will to stand up against America\u2019s adversaries,” Cheung said. “In Iowa there were far better candidates than DeSantis who didn\u2019t come across as an awkward and wooden swamp-like knock off of Jeb Bush.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also touted Trump’s record on the economy, energy, the southern border and foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to step onto North Korean soil since the 1953 armistice divided the peninsula, after having met with Kim twice before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his presidency, Trump claimed that he had \u201cdeveloped a very, very good relationship\u201d with Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see what that means,\u201d Trump said in remarks to governors in February 2019. \u201cBut he\u2019s never had a relationship with anybody from this country and hasn\u2019t had lots of relationships anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim also heaped praise on Trump in a letter to the White House before a summit between them in Vietnam in 2019 while making it clear he wished to negotiate only with Trump and not his envoys, current and former U.S. officials said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n