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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (left) and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul during a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Sept. 16. (Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer).
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S. Korean paper reports Kim invited Trump to Pyongyang in “undisclosed letter”
The South Korean government “heard in detail from the US” about a personal letter sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to US President Donald Trump, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha said on Sept. 16. Kang’s remarks came during a plenary session of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that day in response to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Won Hye-young, who asked whether she was aware of press reports that Kim had recently communicated a message to Trump proposing a third bilateral summit and inviting him to Pyongyang. The question and answer exchange concerned a headline article in the JoongAng Ilbo the same day titled “Kim Jong-un invited Trump to Pyongyang in undisclosed letter.” The newspaper reported that Kim had sent the letter “during the third week of last month [August], which included the National Liberation Day holiday.” This suggested a different undisclosed letter from the “beautiful” three-page letter Trump spoke on Aug. 9 about having received from Kim. Kang stressed that she was “not in a position to confirm what was stated in the letter or when the letter was sent,” making it unclear whether her response to Won’s question amounted to a confirmation of the JoongAng Ilbo piece’s claims. Blue House Spokesperson Ko Min-jung similarly said she could “not confirm” the report. Another senior administration official said, “I hadn’t heard anything about there being an undisclosed letter from Kim Jong-un recently that President Trump had not shared” – which suggests there was no actual undisclosed letter. In response to the controversy over Kang’s remarks before the National Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified, “Minister Kang’s response before the Foreign Affairs & Unification Committee on Sept. 16 was about the letter from Kim Jong-un that President Trump spoke about on Twitter on Aug. 10.” “There has been no confirmation of the letter reported on today by a certain news outlet containing Chair Kim’s invitation of President Trump to Pyongyang,” it added. Regardless of the veracity of the JoongAngo Ilbo’s report on the invitation to Pyongyang, Kim and Trump each openly stated during their first and second bilateral summits and June 30 meeting in Panmunjom that they hoped to invite the other to Pyongyang and Washington, respectively. North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported at the time of the second summit in Hanoi that Kim had “promised a new meeting” to Trump. By Lee Je-hun and Park Min-hee, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr] Caption: South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (left) and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul during a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Sept. 16. (Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer).
