WASHINGTON, Jan 24: US President Donald Trump has sent a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, White House confirmed.
“The President (Trump) responded to Chairman Kim’s letter,” CNN reported late Wednesday, citing White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Also on Thursday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) of the DPRK reported that Kim had received a personal letter written by Trump, presented by Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee who recently led a delegation to visit Washington and met with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Kim “expressed great satisfaction” with the letter, the KCNA reported.
Trump and Kim reportedly have exchanged letters several times this month.
Early this month in a cabinet meeting, Trump told media that he had received a “great” letter from the DPRK leader. Chinese news agency Xinhua while quoting CNN said a letter by Trump “was flown to Pyongyang and delivered by hand” over the weekend on Jan. 12-13.
Kim Yong Chol reportedly presented a letter by the DPRK leader to Trump during their meeting on Friday.
Critics accuse the Trump administration of failing to get Pyongyang to agree to specifics at their first summit. They say the North Koreans want another summit because they believe they can extract greater concessions by meeting directly with Trump, as opposed to working with envoys like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or Steve Biegun, the US special representative to North Korea.
Last week, shortly after the White House meeting, Sanders was asked by reporters why the US should believe North Korean promises about denuclearization.
“We’ve continued to make progress,” Sanders said. “We’re continuing to have conversations. The US is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on North Korea until we see fully and verified denuclearization. We’ve had very good steps in good faith from the North Koreans in releasing the hostages and other moves so we’re going to continue those conversations.”
(UNI)
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