KIM STILL PINS HOPES ON TRUMP.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un still has faith in U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to ending their nations’ hostile relations, but he’s frustrated by questions about his willingness to denuclearize, and wants his “goodwill measures” to be met in kind, South Korean officials said Thursday.

The trove of comments from Kim, including his commitment to a nuclearfree Korean Peninsula and to the suspension of all future long-range missile tests, were relayed by top South Korean security officials returning from meeting him in Pyongyang, as well as by North Korea’s propaganda specialists.

Each statement will be parsed for clues about Kim’s mindset as North Korea and the United States move forward with efforts to resolve a nuclear standoff. Some of his reported comments were reiterations of past stances, but there will be sharp interest in whether they push negotiators back to diplomacy after recriminations that followed Kim and Trump’s June summit.

Since then neither side has seemed willing to make a substantive move, leading to skepticism over Trump’s claims that Kim will really dismantle his nuclear weapons program. Recent satellite photos have indicated Kim’s weapons factories were still operating to produce fissile materials to make nuclear weapons.

South Korean officials said they forwarded a message from Trump to Kim during their meeting and would send a separate message from Kim to Trump later Thursday. The officials wouldn’t discuss the content.

Chung reported that Kim said he wishes for North Korea and the U.S. to put an end to their seven decades of hostile relations before the end of Trump’s first term.

Kim told Chung that work to dismantle the only missile engine test site in North Korea “means a complete suspension of future longrange ballistic missile tests.”

Kim said he’d take “more active” measures toward denuclearization if his moves are met with corresponding goodwill measures, Chung said. Kim also said an end-of-war declaration that Seoul and Pyongyang have been pushing Washington to sign off on wouldn’t weaken the U.S.-South Korean alliance or lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to prevent a North Korean attack, according to Chung.

South Korea’s delegation announced they had set up a summit for Sept. 18-20 in Pyongyang between the North Korean leader and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, their third meeting since April.