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US President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. Photo: AFP

Donald Trump says he received ‘beautiful letter’ from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un

  • US president tells reporters ‘I think that something will happen that’s going to be very positive’
  • Referring to reports that Kim’s half-brother was a CIA source, Trump says ‘I wouldn’t let that happen’
North Korea

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had received a very warm letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, calling the correspondence “beautiful”.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump added, “I think that something will happen that’s going to be very positive”, but gave no details.

Washington is seeking to rebuild momentum in stalled talks with Pyongyang, aimed at getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. Trump and Kim last met early this year in Hanoi, Vietnam, but failed to reach a denuclearisation agreement, and the talks collapsed.

Trump spoke a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Kim’s slain half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was a source for the US Central Intelligence Agency. Kim Jong-nam was killed at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2017.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un take a walk after their first meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. Photo: AP

A new biography of Kim Jong-un published in the US on Tuesday by The Washington Post journalist Anna Fifield said the half-brother, who lived in exile most of his life, had been recruited by the CIA.

“I did receive a beautiful letter from Kim Jong-un … I appreciated the letter. I saw the information about CIA with respect to his brother, or half-brother. And I will tell him that will not happen under my … I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“A very warm, very nice letter,” Trump said. “I think North Korea has tremendous potential.”

He did not rule out another meeting soon with Kim. Trump is due to travel to Japan and South Korea later this month.

Trump said Kim had thus far kept his promises not to test long-range ballistic missiles or conduct underground nuclear tests.

Forced to watch: escapees shed light on North Korea’s public executions

In May, North Korea conducted a “strike drill” for multiple launchers, firing tactical guided weapons in a military drill supervised by Kim.

Trump said at the time that these launches did not pose a problem in his eyes, although his advisers called them a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Additional reporting by The Guardian

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Trump upbeat after kim jong-un sends him a ‘beautiful’ letter
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