US President Donald Trump said on Friday a letter from Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un, which he believes will be positive, is on its way to him, a day after expressing fresh optimism about a denuclearization deal.
"I know that a letter is being delivered to me, a personal letter from Kim Jong Un to me. It was handed at the border ... yesterday," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “It’s being delivered. It’s actually an elegant way... and I think it’s going to be a positive letter.”
The two leaders have traded correspondence as they negotiate over the DPRK’s nuclear program and Trump has also praised Kim on social media. On Thursday, Trump thanked Kim on Twitter for expressing “unwavering faith in President Trump” and added: “We will get it done together!”
US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at the at Sioux Falls Regional Airport after a fundraiser in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on September 7, 2018. /VCG Photo
Trump’s latest remarks came after the Republic of Korea's (ROK) officials said after meeting Kim in Pyongyang this week that the DPRK's leader had given his first timeline for denuclearization, in spite of widespread skepticism about his willingness to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States.
According to the ROK's officials, Kim said his faith in Trump was “unchanged,” and he wanted denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and an end to hostile relations with the United States before Trump’s first term ends in early 2021.
Both Kim and Trump have stressed their personal relationship since meeting in an unprecedented June 12 summit which skeptics say was big on fanfare but short on substance.
Under discussion since has been whether the DPRK's denuclearization or declaring an end to the Korean War should come first. The 1950-53 war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning US-led UN forces are technically still at war with the DPRK.
DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un (R) greets Seoul's special envoy Chung Eui-yong ahead of their talks in Pyongyang on Sept. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo
Return to negotiation
Earlier on Friday, generals from the United States and the DPRK met at the Korean border to discuss the recovery of the remains of US service members killed in the Korean War, a senior US official said.
The talks between US Major General Michael Minihan, the chief of staff for the United Nations Command (UNC) and US Forces Korea, and the DPRK Lieutenant General An Ik San followed the DPRK’s handover of remains in July under an agreement reached by Trump and Kim at the summit.
“While these talks are military-to-military and scheduled to be confined to the repatriation issue, having some progress on any front would be welcome,” the US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “That doesn’t mean there’s much optimism about moving forward on the political front.”
Servicemen and women from many branches of the military salute as military personnel bring in the presumed remains of US soldiers in 55 caskets draped with American flags to Hanger 19 on the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam on August 1, 2018, in Honolulu, Hawaii. /VCG Photo
US accuses DPRK over cybercrime
Hours before Trump sending his twitter message to Kim, the US Justice Department announced charges Thursday against an alleged hacker for the DPRK's government in connection with a series of major cyber attacks including the 2014 assault on Sony Pictures Entertainment, marking the first time the United States has brought such charges against a Pyongyang operative.
Park Jin Hyok, officials said, is accused of being part of a conspiracy to hack on behalf of the DPRK’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the military intelligence agency that controls most of the country’s cyber-capabilities.
He and other unidentified operatives are accused of being members of the Lazarus Group, which also has been implicated in the audacious attempt to steal 1 billion US dollars from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016, and to the WannaCry 2.0 virus that affected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries last year.
The charges against Park, detailed in a 179-page complaint, come as President Trump seeks the DPRK’s commitment to abandon its nuclear weapons program entirely. They were filed in June, days before Trump met the DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un at a summit in Singapore, but not unsealed until Wednesday.
Pyongyang has denied allegations of hacking.
(With inputs from agencies)
This handout photo obtained on September 6, 2018, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shows Park Jin Hyok, a DPRK's programmer. /VCG Photo