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’
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.
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.”