7/12/2018

MIKE POMPEO/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump took the unusual step Thursday [7-12-18] of releasing a letter he received last week from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that hailed their summit meeting in Singapore as the ‘start of a meaningful journey’ and called for ‘practical actions’ on both sides. The letter illustrated Mr. Kim’s apparent calculation that negotiations to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula can best be advanced by appealing directly to Mr. Trump rather than the U.S. president’s subordinates, who are now tasked with pressing the North Koreans for specific steps to disarm. The letter was dated July 6, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang for two days of talks that were intended to flesh out the general understandings that were announced at the summit. Mr. Kim didn’t meet with Mr. Pompeo during that visit and Pyongyang later said the secretary of state had issued ‘gangster-like’ demands and ignored North Korean concerns and that his visit had ‘raised the risk of war.’”

Michael R. Gordon, “Trump Cites Kim Letter as Sign of Progress With North Korea,” The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2018 3:14 pm