Donald Trump has praised Kim Jong-un’s intelligence while commenting on efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, adding to his growing list of flattering remarks directed at the North Korean leader.

Thanks to his well-endowed mental facilities, Kim understands that he must give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons if he hopes to develop his country economically, Trump said on Monday.

“He knows that with nuclear… only bad can happen. He is a very smart man, he gets it well,” Trump remarked, stressing that North Korea has “tremendous economic potential.”

The kind comment comes one day after the US president tweeted that he had “confidence” in Kim.

Applauding North Korea’s recent jab at Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Trump joked that perhaps Kim was sending him a “signal.” He famously once described Biden as a “low IQ individual” – a sentiment that was later echoed by a similar insult lobbed at the Democrat by North Korean state media.

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Despite Trump’s warm words, relations between Pyongyang and Washington have cooled after a Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in February ended in gridlock. North Korean diplomats blamed the summit’s failure on Washington’s refusal to partially lift sanctions in exchange for additional assurances that Pyongyang would not conduct any more long-range missile tests.

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