Texarkana Gazette

Pushing the envelope: Why was Kim’s letter for Trump so big?

- By Kim Tong-Hyung

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is known for pushing the envelope with threats and bluster as he seeks to leverage his nuclear weapons program into security and economic benefits for his country. But lately he’s gained notoriety for his envelopes alone.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared that his on-and-off summit with Kim was on again. The announceme­nt came after Trump hosted a senior North Korean envoy at the White House and he delivered a personal letter from Kim that was inside a white envelope nearly as large as a folded newspaper.

Trump has not yet revealed what was written in the letter, but he sure seemed happy to get it. A photo showed a grinning Trump holding up the envelope alongside Kim Yong Chol, the most senior North Korean to visit the White House in 18 years, as they posed in the Oval Office in front of a portrait of Thomas Jefferson.

Did Kim, a third-generation heredity leader, think Trump would share his love for lavish gestures and things grandiose? After spending months trading insults and war threats with him, has Kim learned that the way to influence Trump is to appeal to his ego—something South Korean President Moon Jae-in seemed to try in April when he openly vouched for Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize?

No one outside North Korea likely knows the real reason for the letter’s size. It could just be that’s how Kim likes it.

Moon, who lobbied hard for nuclear negotiatio­ns between Trump and Kim, received a letter of similar size from Kim during February’s Winter Olympics in which he expressed a desire for an inter-Korean summit.

Kim’s to letter to Moon was personally delivered by Kim’s sister, who attended the Olympics as a special envoy, and was covered by a blue folder emblazoned with a golden seal.

Analysts say the gesture of sending the letter itself is part of the meticulous steps North Korea is taking to present Kim as a legitimate internatio­nal statesman who is reasonable and capable of negotiatin­g solutions and making deals.

Following a provocativ­e 2017 in which his engineers tested a purported thermonucl­ear warhead and long-range missiles that could target American cities, Kim has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months in what’s seen as an attempt to break out of isolation and obtain relief from sanctions decimating his country’s economy.

While trying to communicat­e its willingnes­s to embrace Western diplomatic norms, Pyongyang has put in painstakin­g efforts to maintain reciprocit­y with Washington and Seoul, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Kim Yong Chol’s trip to Washington was clearly a response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s travelling to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, twice in recent weeks for pre-summit negotiatio­ns with Kim. Likewise, Kim’s letter to Trump would have been a reciprocal response to Trump’s own letter to Kim on May 24 that temporaril­y shelved the highly anticipate­d meeting, Yang said.

In his letter printed on White House stationery, Trump, in an uncharacte­ristically warm and congenial tone, said he was canceling the summit because of North Korea’s harsh comments about U.S. officials. But he also told Kim “please do not hesitate to call me or write.”

North Korea then issued an unusually conciliato­ry response to Trump’s letter, with senior diplomat Kim Kye Gwan saying in a statement that Pyongyang had “highly appreciate­d” Trump’s willingnes­s to hold a summit, calling it a “bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not.” Hours later, Trump said the summit was potentiall­y back on.

 ?? AP Photo/Andrew Harnik ?? ■ President Donald Trump talks with Kim Yong Chol, former North Korean military intelligen­ce chief and one of leader Kim Jong Un’s closest aides, as they walk from their meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik ■ President Donald Trump talks with Kim Yong Chol, former North Korean military intelligen­ce chief and one of leader Kim Jong Un’s closest aides, as they walk from their meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

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