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Trump awaits ‘positive’ Kim letter

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FARGO, United States: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was expecting a “positive” new letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, indicating that negotiations on denuclearising the peninsula remain alive after weeks of apparent deadlock.


“I know that a letter is being delivered to me, a personal letter from Kim Jong Un to me, that was handed at the border,” Trump told reporters travelling with him to North Dakota.


“I think it’s going to be a positive letter.”


Trump, who said he expects Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to deliver the note, also brought up a statement from Kim on Thursday emphasising his continuing “trust in Trump,” despite difficulties in denuclearisation negotiations.


“That was a very positive statement, what he said about me,” Trump said. “There’s never been a more positive statement.”


He accused the news media of not covering it, however, adding: “Honestly I didn’t see it on the front page of your papers.”


Trump lauded the progress he said had been made with Pyongyang since the June summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore.


“We have our hostages back,” he said. “I say it a hundred times — no missiles, no rockets, no nuclear testing. There’s been some rhetoric, let’s see what happens.”


Kim on Thursday renewed his commitment to the goal of denuclearisation in talks with a special envoy from Seoul, ahead of a summit planned in Pyongyang on September 18-20 with South Korean President Moon Jae-In.


“The north and the south should further their efforts to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.


Kim’s expression of confidence in Trump, relayed by Seoul’s envoy, prompted the US president to tweet out his thanks to the North Korean leader and vow to “get it done together.”


Trump and Kim pledged to denuclearise the Korean peninsula at the Singapore summit but no details were agreed.


And Washington and Pyongyang have sparred since on what that means and how it will be achieved.


Trump in late August cancelled a planned trip to Pyongyang by Pompeo over a lack of progress in North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.


But relations seem to have improved since then. — Reuters


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