Second round in the offing

US President Donald Trump receives a ‘very positive’ letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un seeking a follow-up meeting after Singapore summit.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has received a “very positive” letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un seeking a follow-up meeting after their historic summit in Singapore, the White House said.

“It was a very warm, very positive letter,” White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said, adding that the message showed Pyongyang’s “continued commitment to focus on denuclearisation” on the Korean Peninsula.

“The primary purpose of the letter was to schedule another meeting with the president, which we are open to and are already in the process of coordinating,” she said on Monday at the first White House press briefing in nearly three weeks.

Sanders added that the letter was “further evidence of progress” in Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang.

Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore in June that raised prospects of a breakthrough on curtailing North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea’s dovish President Moon Jae-in, who brokered the June meeting, vowed to continue playing the role of a mediator to facilitate dialogue between Trump and Kim.

“The complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is an issue that should fundamentally be resolved between the US and North Korea through negotiation,” Moon told a Cabinet meeting yesterday.