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Trump open to dialogue with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
The White House has confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump remains open to communication with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, despite reports that Pyongyang has declined some of Trump’s outreach attempts. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized Trump’s desire to build on the progress from their historic 2018 summit in Singapore — the first-ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
Although the summit and subsequent meetings in Vietnam and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone did not halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Trump continues to be receptive to correspondence with Kim. Leavitt declined to comment on the specifics of any letters exchanged but noted Trump’s willingness to maintain dialogue.
This openness contrasts with a recent report that North Korean diplomats in New York refused to accept a letter from Trump intended to reopen communication channels between Washington and Pyongyang. Meanwhile, South Korea’s newly elected president, Lee Jae-myung, has taken steps toward reducing tensions by halting loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda across the border. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence described this as an effort to rebuild trust and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, where technically the two countries remain at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.