Trump says getting along with Kim Jong-un is 'good thing'

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday that "getting along" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a "good thing," after his Democratic rival Kamala Harris vowed not to "cozy up to" dictators like Kim.

During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, former President Trump again boasted about his personal ties with the North Korean leader, as he and the vice president are in a tight race with the presidential election just a little over two months away.

"I got along with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Remember I walked over ... the first person to ever walk over from this country," he said, apparently referring to his visit to the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019, where he briefly crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the North.

"We also looked at his nuclear capability. It's very substantial ... You know, getting along is a good thing. It's not a bad thing," he added.

In her nomination acceptance speech in Chicago last Thursday, Harris took aim at Trump who has long touted his personal relations with Kim, saying that she will not "cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump."

She claimed that dictators know Trump is "easy to manipulate with flattery and favors."

The two candidates' remarks suggested their different visions for diplomacy toward North Korea.

Trump's boast of ties with Kim has raised the likelihood that he, if reelected, could revive his personal diplomacy toward Pyongyang to address the North Korean nuclear quandary.

Harris is seen as favoring an approach focusing on cooperation with allies and partners to address evolving North Korean threats.