Trump says Kim Jong-un 'speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same'

US President Donald Trump has said that he would like US citizens to "sit up in attention" when he talks, in the same way North Korea's people do when their leader Kim Jong-un speaks.

The president was speaking about his relationship with the North Korean dictator, who has been accused of numerous human rights violations by the United Nations and watchdog groups.

"He speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same," Mr Trump said of Mr Kim during an interview on Fox News' 'Fox & Friends' while standing on the lawn outside of the White House. Later in the morning, Mr Trump told other news outlets he was "kidding" about the comment.

In the free-ranging interview, Mr Trump also said that he "think[s] it's great to give [Mr Kim] credibility," adding that the US has "a very good relationship with North Korea... we have a really great relationship" in response to criticism that he saluted a North Korean general while he was in Singapore earlier this week for the historic summit with Mr Kim.

The video footage had not been released by the White House and US media were not aware of it until North Korean state-run media had revealed it.

Mr Trump, a father of five, said he would spend Father's Day this year "calling North Korea," but did not specify what the conversation would entail nor if it would be a direct conversation with Mr Kim.

The president then moved over to a full gaggle of reporters also waiting on the White House lawn for him to continue answering questions. When asked why he appeared to be defending the North Korean regime despite the many accusations of human rights violations but also fervently speaking about the death of American Otto Warmbier while being held in a North Korean prison, Mr Trump said "you know why? because I don't want to see a nuclear weapon destroy you and your family".

It is believed Mr Warmbier, whose parents had made public pleas for him to be sent back to the US after it was revealed he had fallen into a coma, had been tortured and did not receive appropriate medical care towards the end of his 17 months in prison. Pyongyang claimed the 22-year-old university student had stolen public property while on his January 2016 holiday in the hermit kingdom.

"I want to have a good relationship with North Korea. I want to have a good relationship with many other countries," the president said, seeming irritated at the question.

He then launched into another accusation against the media, saying: "and what I've done, if you remember, if you're fair, which most of you aren't...when I came in people thought we were probably going to war with North Korea. If we did millions of people would have been killed".

"I came in, that was what I inherited," the president claimed. However, experts The Independent has spoken to disagreed.

While tensions with North Korea had been a problem for decades, particularly with Mr Kim's mercurial father, experts including officials from former administrations have repeatedly said the real threat of war on the Korean peninsula did not increase until after Mr Trump began issuing open threats - like promising reign down "fire and fury" on Pyongyang should it not stop developing its nuclear weapons programme and repeatedly referring to Mr Kim as "Rocket Man," including an inflammatory speech at the UN General Assembly last September.

No other president had been so publicly and directly hostile to the unpredictable regime with little to lose on the world stage given their needs were being met by trade allies like Russia and China.

"I did a great job this weekend," the president claimed about the Singapore summit while answering the criticism that he "gave up" ground to Mr Kim without receiving equal concessions.

Mr Trump announced that joint military exercises which regularly take place with South Korea in the region would be halted in order to not further exacerbate inter-Korean tensions. The Pentagon had not received official guidance on the matter until days later.

The president countered the assertion that he conceded more than Mr Kim, but cited events that took place well before the Singapore summit and may have been the result of South Korean diplomacy since it was during the time Mr Trump was openly insulting Mr Kim.

"You haven't had a missile test in seven months, you haven't had a firing, you haven't had a nuclear test in eight-and-a-half months, you haven't had a missile flying over Japan," Mr Trump said.

He also once again that during the 2016 campaign American families who lost loved ones in the Korean War "begg[ed]" to bring the soldiers' remains home and that Mr Kim "gave us the remains of our great heroes".

"They're doing so much for us," the president said about the regime.