President Donald Trump said he would not have allowed the CIA to recruit the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "under my auspice."
Trump wouldn't confirm or deny reports that Kim Jong Nam had been working with the CIA prior to being killed in Malaysia in February 2017, saying that he didn't know anything about it, CNN reports.
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"I know this: that the relationship is such that that wouldn't happen under my auspices, but I don't know about that. Nobody knows," he said.
In an article Monday, the Wall Street Journal claimed that the elder Kim brother had been a source for the CIA and had met with agency operatives several times.
The CIA operative claims are also described in a book about Kim Jong Un by Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield published on Tuesday. "The Great Successor" details meetings between Kim Jong Nam and his handlers in the two countries. The CIA has declined to comment to CNN. Trump took office just a few weeks before Kim Jong Nam's death and repeatedly said on Tuesday he didn't know whether the reports are true.