‘Selfish!’: North Korea denies sending ‘nice note’ to Trump

US president is accused by Pyongyang of spreading an 'ungrounded story'

North Korea has denied that its leader Kim Jong Un sent “a nice note” to Donald Trump, after the US president claimed he had recently received one.

Mr Trump mentioned the letter on Saturday during a coronavirus press conference, adding that his relationship with the North Korean leader seemed to be “fine”.

"I received a nice note from him recently. It was a nice note. I think we're doing fine," said Mr Trump, defending the now-stalled nuclear diplomacy with the North Korean leader.

However, North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement that no such letter existed and that it would look into why the US president released “the ungrounded story”.

The statement added that the relations between the countries “are not an issue to be taken up just for diversion nor it should be misused for meeting selfish purposes."

Mr Trump claimed that without his diplomacy efforts the US would be at war with North Korea.

He has met Mr Kim on three occasions since 2018, when they began talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme.

This nuclear diplomacy stalled in 2019 after the breakdown of their second summit in Vietnam, when the US president refused to offer sanctions relief in return for partial denuclearisation.

The pair have previously exchanged letters. In March, the White House confirmed that Mr Trump had sent a letter to the North Korean leader but refused to comment on the specifics.

Kim Yo Jong, Mr Kim’s sister, said at the time: “I would like to extend sincere gratitude to the US president for sending his invariable faith to the chairman.”

Although she added that the letter was “a good judgement and proper action”, she cautioned that a good relationship between the two leaders was not enough to strengthen the countries’ ties.

In the letter, Mr Trump is thought to have offered North Korea help in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

Additional reporting from AP