John Bolton, former national security adviser to US President Donald Trump, recently announced that Trump's earlier claims about how he and North Korea's Kim Jong-un “fell in love” might seem rather amusing to the latter, sharing this tidbit during an interview with ABC News.
When asked whether Trump actually believes that the North Korean head of state “loves him”, Bolton responded that he doesn't "know any other explanation".
"I think Kim Jong-un gets a huge laugh out of this. I mean, these letters that the president has shown to the press - off the record and whatnot, but I've been in the room when he's done it - are written by some functionary in the North Korean Workers Party Agitprop Office", he said. "And yet, the president has looked at 'em as evidence of this deep friendship".
Bolton also remarked that even if there was some "deep personal relationship" between Trump and Kim, it did not change the fact that the latter "is never gonna give up his nuclear weapons program".
"And from the U.S. national security point of view, that is the only thing that matters", Trump's ex-adviser stated.
Bolton's revelations evoked a somewhat mixed reaction online, however, as while some social media users went on to criticize Trump, there were also those who slammed Bolton instead.
Bolton's interview comes ahead of the upcoming release of his new book, "The Room Where It Happened", in which he offers insights into how Trump made decisions on foreign policy, and which is expected to go on sale on Tuesday 23 June.
Last year, Trump declared that he would receive a Nobel Peace Prize "if they gave it out fairly", with suggestions that he should receive the award starting to float since the beginning of his talks with the North Korea leader in June 2018.