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Donald Trump receives letter from North Korea to ‘schedule second meeting’ with Kim Jong-un

The White House says North Korea is exhibiting a 'sign of good faith' in talks by not featuring missiles in its latest parade

Mythili Sampathkumar
New York
Monday 10 September 2018 21:02 BST
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North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has requested a second meeting with US President Donald Trump in a letter, the White House says
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un has requested a second meeting with US President Donald Trump in a letter, the White House says (Getty)

Kim Jong-un has written to Donald Trump suggesting the pair meet for a second time following their historic summit earlier this year.

The first summit took place on 12 June in Singapore and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the receipt of the letter in a news conference.

She described it as “warm” and “positive”, but said the letter would not be released to the public in full.

Ms Sanders pointed to a recent military parade held in Pyongyang as a “sign of good faith” in the denuclearisation talks because it did not feature any long-range missiles as Mr Kim has had before, adding it was “a continued commitment to focus on denuclearisation of the peninsula”.

It is “something we want to take place”, Ms Sanders said about a bilateral meeting between the leaders, adding staff are “already in the process of coordinating” it.

The president was criticised for the lack of concrete agreements to come out of the Singapore summit.

Trump says media coverage of his North Korea summit 'almost treasonous'

The US had made broad “security guarantees” to Mr Kim, but no details have been made public about them save for Mr Trump saying at the time he would end “war games” in the region with South Korea “unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should”.

By 28 August, defence secretary James Mattis said there would be no halt to joint exercises in a possible sign Pyongyang was not cooperating with Washington.

The joint statement from the summit simply read: “President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to [North Korea], and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.

Mr Trump also denied making any concessions during a private session between the two leaders, where they were only joined by translators.

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