Trump is receptive to contacts with North Korean leader White House says

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump would welcome communications with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after having had friendly relations with Kim during his first term, the White House said on June 11.

“The President remains receptive to correspondence with Kim Jong Un,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Mr Trump and Mr Kim held three summits during Mr Trump’s 2017-2021 first term and exchanged a number of what Mr Trump called “beautiful” letters. In June 2019, Mr Trump briefly stepped into North Korea from the demilitarised zone with South Korea.

Little progress was made, however, at reining in North Korea’s nuclear programme, and Mr Trump acknowledged in March that Pyongyang is a “nuclear power”.

The attempts at rapprochement come after the election in South Korea of a new president, Mr Lee Jae-myung, who has pledged to reopen dialogue with North Korea.

Analysts say, however, that engaging North Korea will likely be more difficult for both Mr Lee and Mr Trump than it was in the US Presidents first term.

Since then, North Korea has significantly expanded its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and developed close ties with Russia through direct support for Moscows war in Ukraine, to which Pyongyang has provided both troops and weaponry.

Since Mr Trumps first-term summitry with Mr Kim ended, North Korea has shown no interest in returning to talks. REUTERS