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US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is awaiting a new "positive" letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying talks on the denuclearization of the peninsula are still alive after weeks of apparent stalemate.
"I know a letter was handed to me, a personal letter from Kim Jong Un to me, which was delivered to the border," Trump told reporters traveling with him to North Dakota.
"I think it's going to be a positive letter."
Trump, who said he expects state secretary Mike Pompeo to hand over the note, also raised a statement from Kim on Thursday underlining his "continued confidence in Trump", despite the difficulties in negotiating denuclearization.
"It was a very positive statement, what he said about me," Trump said. "There has never been a more positive statement."
He accused the media of not covering him, adding: "Honestly, I did not see him in one of your newspapers."
Trump praised the progress made with Pyongyang since the June summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore.
"We have our hostages back," he said. "I say it a hundred times – no missiles, no rockets, no nuclear tests, there has been rhetoric, let's see what happens."
Kim reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization in an interview with a special envoy from Seoul, in anticipation of a summit scheduled for September 18-20 in Pyongyang with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
"North and South should continue their efforts to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Kim's expression of trust in Trump, relayed by the Seoul envoy, prompted the US president to send his thanks to the North Korean leader and "get things done together".
Trump and Kim pledged to denuclearize the Korean peninsula at the Singapore summit, but no details were agreed.
And Washington and Pyongyang have been training since then on what it means and how it will be achieved.
– "More work to do" –
At the end of August, Trump canceled Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang, due to lack of progress in North Korean nuclear disarmament.
But the relationship seems to have improved since then.
South Korean national security advisor Chung Eui-yong, who met Kim, said the North Korean leader also stressed that "his trust in Trump remains unchanged," which led to the US president's tweet.
Chung added that Kim has expressed his intention to work closely with the United States to achieve denuclearization "in the first official term of President Trump", which ends in January 2021.
In a statement on August 24, Trump said he was taping Pompeo's trip "because I feel we are not making enough progress on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
He also accused China of failing to help convince Pyongyang to end its nuclear and ballistic missile program.
Thursday, in New Delhi, Pompeo, the former head of the US intelligence service who leads the US negotiating effort, issued a sober note, saying there was still much work to be done.
North Korea "is the only country to have made commitments under United Nations Security Council resolutions," Pompeo told reporters.
"There is still a lot of work to be done.We have not had any nuclear tests, we have not had any missile tests, which we consider to be an excellent thing" , added Pompeo.
"But the work of convincing President Kim to make the strategic change we talked about, for a better future for the people of North Korea, continues."
President Donald Trump told reporters who accompanied him to North Dakota that North Korean Kim Jong Un had made a "very positive" statement about him
