A letter from President Trump was delivered to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang over the weekend.
A letter form the president was hand-delivered by plane as planning for a second summit between the two leaders is in the works, according to CNN. The two leaders met in June during a summit in Singapore to “work toward complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea’s former spy chief Kim Yong Chol may visit Washington as early as this week to continue negotiations for the summit, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has welcomed the prospect of a second summit between Trump and Kim, and said last week that such a meeting, coupled Kim’s interactions with South Korea, would be the catalyst to “firmly solidify peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
“We will not loosen our guard until the promise to denuclearize the Peninsula is kept, and peace is fully institutionalized,” Moon said.
[Opinion: Second Trump-Kim summit could end with a bang this time]
Pyongyang has signaled rising frustration with sanctions, but Trump recently told reporters that the penalties against the rogue regime will continue and that talks were going “very well” with North Korea.
“Now I say this, North Korea, we’re doing very well,” Trump said last week. “And again, no rockets. There’s no rockets. There’s no anything. We’re doing very well.”
Despite Trump’s show of confidence, his national security adviser, John Bolton, accused North Korea of not abiding by the commitments originally made in June.
“They have not lived up to the commitments so far,” Bolton said in December at the Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO Council conference in Washington. “That’s why I think the President thinks that another summit is likely to be productive.”
Kim has sent Trump a letter in October saying he is “determined” to achieve denuclearization. At a rally in September, Trump spoke of the effectiveness of his letter correspondence with Kim. “We fell in love, okay? No, really – he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters,” he told a West Virginia crowd.
