President tweeted ‘a very nice note’ from North Korean leader just hours after officials failed to show up at the planned meeting

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump has released a letter he received from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while touting “great progress” in negotiations between the United States and Pyongyang – despite reports of a breakdown in talks.



“A very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea. Great progress being made,” the president said in a tweet that included both a copy of Kim’s letter, dated 6 July, and its translation.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) A very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea. Great progress being made! pic.twitter.com/6NI6AqL0xt

Trump’s comments came just hours after North Korean officials failed to show up at a planned meeting on Thursday with their US counterparts to discuss the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean war. Representatives of the two countries had been poised to meet in Panmunjom, which is regarded as the truce village on the inter-Korean border.

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An agreement to return the remains of US service members was touted by the Trump administration as one of the commitments secured during the president’s historic summit with Kim on 12 June.

While it was not immediately clear why the North Korean delegation skipped the meeting, the apparent snub reinforced skepticism around Pyongyang’s willingness to commit to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

In the letter Trump released on Thursday, Kim repeatedly referred to the US president as “Your Excellency” but makes no mention of North Korea’s missiles or nuclear program.

“I firmly believe that the strong will, sincere efforts and unique approach of myself and Your Excellency Mr President aimed at opening up a new future between the DPRK and the US will surely come to fruition,” the North Korean leader wrote.

Trump has sought to cast his summit with Kim as a major victory, although reports have suggested North Korea is continuing with its nuclear programme and promises of “denuclearisation” remain vague.

Last month, Trump told a Republican convention in Las Vegas that North Korea had “already sent back, or are in the process of sending back” the remains of 200 US or allied service members following his summit with Kim.



The US military also announced that 100 wooden coffins had been dispatch to Panmunjom to receive the remains, although repatriation has yet to take place. Roughly 5,300 US troops presumed to have been killed in the Korean war are unaccounted for.

Following the North Koreans’ no-show at Thursday’s meeting, the US state department said the two delegations had agreed to meet on 15 July.

In another apparent setback, the US accused Pyongyang of violating sanctions on refined oil products and ordered the United Nations security council to immediately halt all related deliveries to North Korea.

Sanctions imposed by the UN in December placed a cap on refined oil exports to North Korea at 500,000 barrels annually. A confidential US report presented to the UN security council, however, estimated the delivery of at least 759,793 barrels of oil products to North Korea between 1 January and 30 May.

Doubts over the prospect of a breakthrough were further exacerbated following Mike Pompeo’s overnight visit to Pyongyang last week, during which a promised meeting with Kim failed to materialize. Although the secretary of state insisted progress continued to be made, North Korea accused the US of making “gangster-like” demands.

Pompeo dismissed the criticism, stating the North Koreans “did not push back” at discussions over the circumstances under which Pyongyang might surrender and dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

“The road ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know that critics will try to minimize the work that we’ve achieved,” he said.

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The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, also downplayed the North Koreans’ antics, stating it was all part of Pyongyang’s “strategy” toward extracting more concessions from the United States.

“No one can be optimistic about the results,” Moon said in Singapore on Thursday, “but my cautious outlook is that the negotiations would be able to succeed if the North carries out a complete denuclearization, and the international community gathers efforts to provide security guarantees to the North.”