Trump Gives Surprisingly Specific Number For Kim Jong Un’s Nuclear Arsenal

President Donald Trump offered a remarkably specific assessment of North Korea’s secretive nuclear arsenal on Wednesday, saying dictator Kim Jong Un has 57 nuclear weapons as he confirmed plans for another meeting with the North Korean leader.

Trump made the comments during an impromptu meeting with reporters while touring a new White House helipad, where he was asked whether the two leaders would meet again.

The reporter began by asking whether or not Trump had been exchanging letters with Kim, and while the president refused to answer that question, he asserted that it was a good thing to have a working relationship with a leader who has nuclear weapons.

“I can’t tell you that,” Trump said of any possible correspondence. “But I get along with him. And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”

“He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. They should have never allowed it to happen. They should’ve never allowed it,” Trump continued. “If I were president [then] I wouldn’t have allowed it, but he’s got them.”

The figure was notably more precise than American officials typically offer, though it aligns with widely reported outside estimates. It remains unclear how Trump arrived at the number.

Trump said again that he got along well with Kim — and that he knew the North Korean leader “very well.”

“He’s going to be fine as long as we have a smart president,” Trump added. “He’s going to be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he’s probably not going to be so fine.”

The reporter then pressed him further, asking whether he planned to meet with Kim before the end of the year.

“Yeah, I will be,” Trump replied before turning and walking away.

A report published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal indicated that Trump has been pushing for a meeting with the North Korean leader, possibly in November, in conjunction with an already-planned trip to Asia. The report suggested that Trump’s goal was to encourage the dictator to abandon his country’s nuclear weapons program altogether.