The White House confirmed that President Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, days before his planned visit to Kim’s southern neighbor.
It’s not clear what the letter is about, but it comes amid ongoing diplomatic talks between the two leaders. Kim’s state media said that he received the “excellent” letter and that he was contemplating its substance. Trump will visit South Korea on a tour of Asia this weekend to revive diplomatic talks on Kim’s nuclear weapons.
The dialogue between the two world leaders has been as eccentric as the two men themselves. Trump’s missive comes after he received a birthday letter from his North Korean counterpart. For his part, Trump’s praise of Kim has been criticized by the Western media as being extremely unconventional.
WH confirms letter
The letter was first reported in North Korean state media, which described the letter as “excellent,” noting that Kim was pleased with the letter and was considering its content. The letter’s existence was also confirmed Sunday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“There was reporting about a letter that was sent from President Trump to Chairman Kim. I can confirm that the letter was in fact sent,” Pompeo said.
Trump’s imminently departing warrior against Fake News, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told the Associated Press that “correspondence between the two leaders had been ongoing.” On Monday, President Trump confirmed that he sent a “very friendly letter” to Kim. The letter comes amid an continuing, but stalled, dialogue between the two.
Trump’s quirky relationship with Kim has been widely discussed, and indeed criticized, for the apparent cordiality that Trump has shown towards a leader widely regarded as among the world’s most brutal dictators. The president revealed earlier this month that he received a birthday card from Kim, an unusual correspondence between the leader of the free world and one of the globe’s last remaining communist leaders.
“It was just a very friendly letter both ways. We have a very good relationship,” he told reporters this week.
In a especially Trumpian moment, the president threatened a reporter with prison time for snapping a picture of the birthday letter during an interview. Earlier this month, Trump said that he received another “beautiful” letter from Kim. And last year, it was reported that Trump sent Kim — whom he previously mocked as “Rocket Man” for his nuclear ambitions — an autographed Elton John CD of the hit song of the same name.
Trump will visit South Korea this weekend to discuss reviving diplomatic talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Pompeo said he hoped Trump’s letters would help talks move forward.
Unusual relationship
While Trump has been criticized in Western media for a highly personal, and apparently friendly relationship with the dictator, Trump has also been credited by some with a thaw in relations between the U.S. and North Korea. The cooling in tensions over the last year — since Trump’s historic summit with Kim in Singapore — is a far cry from the presidency of Barack Obama, when Kim was routinely threatening nuclear war.
Trump inherited this overheated relationship between the two countries, and in the early stage of his presidency the two leaders were lobbing personal insults at each other, with Trump threatening to destroy North Korea with “fire and fury” like the world had never seen.
Trump’s unconventional approach to North Korea has been dismissed as a failed attempt at appeasement by Western media elites since Trump began extending a friendly hand to Kim last year. Trump was immediately slammed for failing to secure a firm commitment from Kim to give up his nuclear weapons at his first summit with Kim last June.
In that vein, critics assailed Trump’s second summit with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam in February after Trump walked away, citing disagreements with his North Korean counterpart. Pessimism over Trump’s approach was further encouraged by reports that North Korea resumed short-range missile testing, which some observers said was evidence that Trump’s diplomacy isn’t working. Nevertheless, tensions have cooled significantly.
The real estate tycoon-turned-president has pursued an unusual strategy of coaxing Kim with promises of economic development in exchange for Kim giving up his nuclear weapons. Trump’s approach is a departure from years of consistently isolating the militaristic but undeveloped country, which depends on its alliance with communist China.
In Japan recently, Trump again rattled pundits when he said it made him “smile” to see North Korea mock Democrat Joe Biden. Trump also said that he wasn’t in any hurry for North Korea to denuclearize and that he wasn’t bothered by the missile tests, saying he trusted that Kim would follow through on his promises.
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