Trump declines to comment on Kim Jong-un’s invitation

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday declined to comment on a newspaper report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had invited him to visit Pyongyang and said conditions were not ready yet for such a visit.

“The relationship is very good but I don’t want to comment on that,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether Kim had invited him to North Korea.

A South Korean newspaper on Monday cited diplomatic sources as saying Kim had invited him to visit Pyongyang in a letter sent in August amid stalled denuclearization talks.

Trump said he would “probably not” be inclined to visit North Korea in the short term, but did not rule out an eventual visit.

“I would do it … at some time in a later future, and depending on what happens I’m sure he’ll love coming to the United States also. But, no, I don’t think it’s ready for that. I think we have a ways to go yet,” Trump said.

Kim, in the letter sent in the third week of August, spoke of his “willingness” for a third summit and extended an invitation for Trump to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified source.

Trump on Aug. 9 said he had received a “very beautiful letter" from Kim.

But U.S. officials have not said anything about a second letter in August.

Trump and Kim have met three times since June last year to discuss ways to resolve a crisis over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, but substantive progress has been scant.

Their first two meetings were formal summits, the second of which, in Vietnam in February, broke down after they failed to narrow the gap between U.S. demands for North Korean denuclearization and North Korean demands for relief from sanctions.

They met for a third time on June 30 in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and agreed to restart working-level talks but that has not happened.