Rocket man fires up after Trump letter
North Korea welcomed what it says was a letter from US President Donald Trump to leader Kim Jong-un, saying it was a sign of “the special and very firm personal relations” despite recent frictions.
A senior Trump administration official confirmed Mr Trump sent the letter and said it was “consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic”. Mr Trump “looks forward to continued communications with Chairman Kim”, the official said
But North Korean state media reported Mr Kim’s powerful sister warned their good personal relationship was not enough, as a hiatus in disarmament talks drags on.
The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after the nuclear-armed North fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast — the latest such action this year.
Since Mr Trump held a third summit with Mr Kim last June and briefly stepped into North Korea from the demilitarised zone with South Korea, no progress has been made on the US President’s bid to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs. On Saturday, Mr Kim observed “the demonstration fire of (a) tactical guided weapon”, to demonstrate the characteristics “and power of a new weapon system to be delivered” to army units, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday.
South Korea called the demonstration “very inappropriate” at a time when the world is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.
KCNA said Mr Kim had received a letter from Mr Trump in which the US President said he was impressed by the North Korean leader’s efforts to defend his people from the coronavirus.
Mr Trump “expressed his intent to render co-operation in the anti-epidemic work, saying that he was impressed by the efforts made by Mr Kim to defend his people from the serious threat of the epidemic”. North Korea has repeatedly said there hasn’t been a single case of coronavirus on its soil.
While the letter reflects “excellent” ties between the two leaders, Ms Jong warned that broader relations between their two nations are different. “We try to hope for the day when the relations between the two countries would be as good as the ones between the two top leaders, but it has to be left to time and be watched whether it can actually happen,” she said.
Analysts say the North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities more than a year after a summit between Mr Kim and Mr Trump broke down in Hanoi.
The deadlock is over sanctions relief and what North Korea would be willing to give up in return.
Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations, US and other sanctions over its weapons programs.