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The Korean version of the letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un US that President Donald Trump posted on his Twitter account. The letter is signed by Kim and dated July 6

While on a trip to Europe, US President Donald Trump surprisingly posted the original of a personal letter he had received from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This is thought to be aimed at shutting down criticism that no definite progress has been made toward resolving the North Korean nuclear issue even after a month has passed since the first North Korea-US summit in history.

After arriving in London on the afternoon of July 12, Trump published English and Korean versions of Kim’s letter, along with the brief message, “A very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea. Great progress being made!” It is very unusual for personal letters exchanged between heads of state to be made public in their original form.

The text of the letter reads as follows: “The significant first meeting with Your Excellency and the joint statement that we signed together in Singapore 24 days ago was indeed the start of a meaningful journey. I deeply appreciate the energetic and extraordinary efforts made by Your Excellency Mr. President for the improvement of relations between the two countries and the faithful implementation of the joint statement. I firmly believe that the strong will, sincere efforts and unique approach of myself and Your Excellency Mr. President aimed at opening up a new future between the DPRK and the US will surely come to fruition. Wishing that the invariable trust and confidence in Your Excellency Mr. President will be further strengthened in the future process of taking practical actions, I extend my conviction that the epochal progress in promoting the DPRK-U.S. relations will bring our next meeting forward.”

2018.

This letter was presumably delivered by Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Vice Chairman and WPK United Front Department Director Kim Yong-chol to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Pyongyang on July 6 and 7 for the first high-level talks between the two sides since the June 12 summit.

Some of the more notable expressions in the letter are “unique approach,” “trust” and “confidence.” To understand the full meaning with which these words are charged, it is necessary to refer to the statement released by the spokesperson of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on July 7. In the statement, the North said that it had expected that Pompeo “would bring [. . .] a constructive proposal which would help build up trust true to the spirit of the DPRK-US summit meeting and talks.”

The statement continues: “But, the US side came up only with its unilateral and gangster-like demands for denuclearization just calling for CVID, declaration and verification,” the statement went on to say. “If the US, being [seized by anxiety], tries to force upon us the old ways claimed by the previous administrations, this will get us nowhere.”

In other words, Kim appears to have used the expression “unique approach” to repeatedly emphasize that denuclearization can be achieved by building confidence between North Korea and the US over a long period of time.

Trump’s publication of the letter is apparently intended to show that the negotiations are going smoothly, despite deep-seated skepticism in the US about North Korea’s willingness to denuclearize. His anxiety came to the surface during a press conference on July 12 in which he was reporting the results of the NATO summit.

Even though there were no questions about North Korea, Trump gave Pompeo an opportunity to talk about how well the negotiations were going. Then Trump said, "But the main thing is, there have been no rocket launches, there have been no missile tests, there's been no nuclear tests, no explosions, no nothing for almost nine months.”

In a related development, the US argued that that North Korea has been avoiding sanctions by smuggling in refined petroleum products and that the UN Security Council’s committee on North Korean sanctions needs to ban exports of refined petroleum to North Korea by the end of the year. The US appears determined to keep underlining that sanctions will not be lifted until denuclearization occurs even as it emphasizes dialogue with the North.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]