The White House confirmed on Monday that President Donald Trump received a “very warm, very positive letter” from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un seeking a second summit meeting.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said talks between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to set up the second meeting are already underway. The two leaders held their first summit in Singapore in June.
Sanders said the full text of the letter would not be made public unless the North Koreans gave their permission. She said only that its “primary purpose was to request, and look to schedule, another meeting with the president.”
Sanders also took a moment to commend the North Koreans for holding a military parade that did not play up the strength of their nuclear arsenal, an act of restraint she cited as “further evidence of progress” on denuclearization. She was referring to the 70th-anniversary celebration of the North Korean state’s founding on Sunday, which featured a smaller military parade than expected, with no sign of the intercontinental ballistic missiles Pyongyang has previously been eager to show off.
President Trump was also pleased with North Korea’s anniversary parade:
North Korea has just staged their parade, celebrating 70th anniversary of founding, without the customary display of nuclear missiles. Theme was peace and economic development. “Experts believe that North Korea cut out the nuclear missiles to show President Trump……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2018
…its commitment to denuclearize.” @FoxNews This is a big and very positive statement from North Korea. Thank you To Chairman Kim. We will both prove everyone wrong! There is nothing like good dialogue from two people that like each other! Much better than before I took office.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2018
The U.S. State Department said on Saturday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was given a letter from Kim to deliver to Trump during his recent visit to the region. President Trump said as much to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, stating that the letter was presented to Pompeo at the border between North and South Korea.
“It’s being delivered. It’s actually an elegant way. The way it used to be many years ago before we had all the new contraptions that we all use. But a letter is being delivered to me and I think it’s going to be a positive letter,” the president mused, apparently correct in his prediction of the letter’s sunny tone.
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