WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Friday that his historic meeting with Kim Jong-un gave credibility to the North Korean leader, whom critics call a brutal dictator. The president also called Mr. Kim “the strong head” of the communist country, adding: “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”

Asked to clarify his comments about people sitting up, Mr. Trump later said he was kidding.

The president has heaped praise on Mr. Kim since their summit meeting on Tuesday in Singapore, where the two leaders discussed denuclearizing North Korea.

Critics feared the meeting would elevate Mr. Kim’s status as a credible leader in the world. It ended with neither a firm agreement about how the North plans to eliminate its nuclear weapons program nor a timeline for doing so. The president saw the meeting as a positive development.

“I went there, I gave him credibility. I think it’s great to give him credibility,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on the White House lawn with “Fox and Friends.”