It appears that the North Koreans are still trying to use flattery with President Trump to get sanctions removed instead of denuclearizing:
U.S. President Donald Trump thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and pledged to work together with him on Thursday after Kim said via a South Korean envoy that his faith in Trump remains unchanged.
“Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims ‘unwavering faith in President Trump.’ Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!” Trump tweeted.
South Korea’s chief presidential security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, made a one-day trip to Pyongyang on Wednesday and held talks with the North’s leader amid a deadlock in denuclearization negotiations between the United States and the North.
During the talks, Kim told Chung’s delegation that he remains firmly committed to denuclearization and that his faith in Trump remains unchanged, even though nuclear negotiations with the U.S. encountered difficulties, according to Chung.
Kim was also quoted as saying he’s never spoken ill of Trump to anybody. [Yonhap]
Kim Jong-un best be careful, Bob Woodward will probably claim he found an anonymous source that he talked bad about President Trump.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tours a hot spring resort in Yangdok, South Pyongan Province, in this photo carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Aug. 17, 2018. (Yonhap)
This photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 13, 2018, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting a ranch, north of Pyongyang. As is customary, the agency didn’t provide the date of his visit. (Yonhap)
It looks like President Moon and Kim Jong-un need to have another meeting to determine their next step to get around sanctions since the Trump administration will not drop them for little to nothing in return as they had hoped:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, walks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during the Inter-Korean Summit on Friday, April 27, 2018. INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT PRESS CORPS
The two Koreas have agreed to hold high-level talks Monday to prepare for another summit between their leaders, even as nuclear talks between the North and the United States have stalled.
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the South Korean delegation to the meeting on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily fortified border, the ministry said Thursday.
The North offered to hold the talks but has yet to announce its chief delegate, a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. The two sides planned to discuss preparations for another summit as well as review the implementation of agreements made during the first one on April 27.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met again in a more informal summit in late May. Both of those meetings – which were the first inter-Korean summits in more than a decade – were held in Panmunjom. [Stars & Stripes]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju inspect a fish pickling factory in southwestern North Korea in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 8, 2018. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) tours a catfish farm in Samchon, South Hwanghae Province, in this photo carried on North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Aug. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boards a domestically built bus in Pyongyang after touring a trolley car and bus plant in the capital city, the North’s main Rodong Shinmun newspaper reported Aug. 4, 2018. (Yonhap)
U.S. President Donald Trump received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the two continue to discuss Pyongyang’s commitment at a recent Singapore summit to rid itself of nuclear weapons, but no second meeting is currently planned, the White House said on Thursday.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump had received a letter from Kim on Wednesday and had responded with a note that should be delivered shortly. Trump also posted a note on Twitter on Thursday thanking Kim for returning the remains of U.S. soldiers and saying he looked forward to seeing Kim again.
“He did receive a letter,” Sanders told a White House briefing. “There is not a second meeting that is currently locked in or finalized. (We’re) certainly open to that discussion, but there isn’t a meeting planned.” [Reuters]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tours a food processing factory in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, in this photo carried by the North’s Rodong Shinmun. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) visits a sapling farm in the country’s eastern province of Kangwon in an apparent bid to highlight the importance of forests, in this undated photo released by the North’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on July 24, 2018. (Yonhap)
