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Agence France-Presse

A North Korean defector said on Thursday after meeting Donald Trump at the White House that Kim Jong-un is not worthy of the US president’s extravagant praise.
Kim “doesn’t deserve all those compliments”, Grace Jo told reporters.
Trump has frequently, lavishly praised Kim, talking of their close friendship and even “love” as he tries to persuade the North Korean leader to end his growing nuclear weapons programme.
Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family to repression and starvation, met Trump as part of the White House’s commemoration of National Day for the Victims of Communism.

She said afterwards that she thinks Trump does not really mean it when he speaks so warmly of Kim.
“I think that’s more of a politics [thing],” she said, speculating that Trump was just trying to be “very nice” and “polite”.
“I don’t think he spoke that, like nice words towards Kim Jong-un, as genuine, true feeling,” she said.
“If he really compliments Kim Jong-un in [those] words and that’s really true, then I don’t really agree on that one,” she said.
Why is Kim Jong-un riding a horse? Some clues from North Korean history
Jo said on Thursday that she lost three members of her family to starvation in the 1990s and that her father was killed by the authorities.
She said the rest of her family made four attempts to escape to China but was sent back each time before she ultimately reached the United States in 2008 and became a citizen.
“After I came to America, I learned how we can live as a human being and I feel like, wow, this freedom is amazing,” she said.


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Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-un ‘doesn’t deserve’ Donald Trump’s compliments, North Korean defector Grace Jo says after meeting US president

Grace Jo (centre), who was born in North Korea, speaks to the media outside the White House after a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

FILE - In this June 30, 2019, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to shake hands at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. North Korea said it's running out of patience with the United States over what it described as hostile policies and unilateral disarmament demands. It's warning that a close personal relationship between their leaders alone wouldn't be enough to prevent nuclear diplomacy from derailing. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Warnings, recriminations and a missile launch: how the US-North Korea nuclear talks died

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump greet each other in Singapore in June 2018. Photo: AP

FILE - In this June 30, 2019, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. North Korea on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, said the U.S. redesignation of Pyongyang as a sponsor of terrorism is dimming prospects for nuclear diplomacy between the countries. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

This Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, photo provided by the North Korean government, shows what it says a test firing of a super-large rocket launcher by the Academy of Defense Science in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Seoul deports two men to North Korea for murdering 16 fishermen

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Lee Sang-min. Photo: AP

The two men in their 20s were sent back to the North through the truce village of Panmunjom on the border. Photo: Handout

North Korea confirms it tested ‘super-large’ multiple rocket launcher, as it increases pressure on US

The apparent launching of projectiles that, according to military officials, landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan. Photo: Reuters

People watch a TV broadcast showing a file footage for a news report on North Korea firing two projectiles, possibly missiles, into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, in Seoul, South Korea, October 31, 2019. REUTERS/Heo Ran

People watch a TV showing a file image of an unspecified North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. South Korea's military said North Korea on Thursday fired two projectiles toward its eastern sea, an apparent resumption of weapons tests aimed at ramping up pressure on Washington over a stalemate in nuclear negotiations. The sign reads: "Last month's unsuccessful test launch." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family, met US president at White House’s commemoration of National Day for the Victims of Communism
Trump has frequently praised Kim, talking of their close friendship and even ‘love’



Grace Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family, met US president at White House’s commemoration of National Day for the Victims of Communism.


Kim Jong-un ‘doesn’t deserve’ Donald Trump’s compliments, North Korean defector Grace Jo says after meeting US president

Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family, met US president at White House’s commemoration of National Day for the Victims of Communism Trump has frequently praised Kim, talking of their close friendship and even ‘love’

Jo, who escaped the North after losing most of her family, met US president at White House’s commemoration of National Day for the Victims of Communism

Trump has frequently praised Kim, talking of their close friendship and even ‘love’