Koreas’ leaders exchange letters

The leaders of the rival Koreas exchanged letters expressing hope for improved bilateral relations, which plummeted in the past three years amid a freeze in nuclear negotiations and North Korea’s accelerating weapons development. North Korea’s state media said leader KimJong Un on Wednesday received a personal letter from outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in and replied on Thursday with his own letter appreciating Moon’s peace efforts during his term. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday their exchange of letters showed their ‘‘deep trust.’’ Moon’s office also confirmed that he exchanged letters with Kim but didn’t immediately say what was said. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen since a series of North Korean weapons tests this year, including its first flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March, reviving the nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the US to accept it as a nuclear power and to remove crippling sanctions.