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North Korea has rejected a personal letter from President Donald Trump intended to revive diplomatic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Some shit you should know before you read: The relationship between President Trump and Kim Jong Un has been rocky to say the least. At the start of Trump’s first term, tensions were high as both leaders traded personal insults and threats of nuclear war. Trump famously warned that North Korea would be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” and later tweeted that his nuclear button was “much bigger and more powerful” than Kim’s, while Kim responded by calling Trump a “dotard”—an insult implying Trump was senile. Notably, relations shifted in 2018 when the two leaders began exchanging a series of personal letters, which Trump later described as “love letters,” leading to three unprecedented meetings, including a brief encounter in the Korean Demilitarized Zone where Trump became the first sitting US president to step into North Korea. Trump’s goal was to persuade Kim to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear arsenal in exchange for sanctions relief and improved international standing, but no lasting agreement was reached. Following Trump’s election loss in 2020, communication between the two leaders ceased, and relations rapidly deteriorated as North Korea resumed weapons testing and strengthened ties with other US adversaries.
What’s going on now: In a notable development, North Korean diplomats have refused to accept a personal letter from President Donald Trump, which was intended to reinitiate dialogue with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. According to a report from NK News citing a high-level source, the letter was offered multiple times to North Korean envoys at the United Nations headquarters in New York, but they “bluntly” rejected it.
While the contents of the letter remain undisclosed, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump “remains receptive to correspondence with Kim Jong Un” and expressed the president’s desire to build on the “progress” made during the 2018 Singapore Summit. However, she declined to comment on the specifics of the letter, stating that such matters would be left for the president himself to address.
Trump’s outreach comes as the newly elected South Korean president, Lee Jae-myung, initiates a series of measures aimed at easing tensions with the North. In a symbolic step, Lee’s administration recently ordered the shutdown of loudspeakers that had been broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda, including K-pop music and political messaging, across the Demilitarized Zone. North Korea mirrored the move by silencing its own broadcasts later that same day.
Lee has also sought to involve China as a regional stabilizer, speaking directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping to request Beijing’s assistance in encouraging North Korean denuclearization and facilitating peace talks. Xi responded by pledging to make efforts toward regional stability.
This comes as President Lee has faced mounting criticism at home over his diplomatic overtures to both North Korea and China. Conservative lawmakers within South Korea argue that his stance risks weakening South Korea’s long-standing security alliance with the United States, especially as North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile programs and deepens its military ties with Russia. His approach marks a sharp contrast to that of his predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol, who adopted a more hawkish policy focused on deterrence and closer alignment with Washington.
