NORTH KOREA/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, praised President Trump’s ‘unusual determination and will’ to settle their nuclear arms dispute through a second summit meeting, saying that he would move ‘step by step’ to achieve his goals in negotiations with the Americans, the North’s official news media reported on Thursday [1-24-19]. Mr. Kim made the remarks during a briefing with North Korea’s senior envoy and nuclear negotiator, Kim Yong-chol, who visited Mr. Trump at the White House last week. At that 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office, the envoy delivered a personal letter from Mr. Kim to Mr. Trump, and afterward the White House announced that the two leaders planned to hold their second summit meeting, in late February. The envoy returned home with a letter from the American leader, and on Thursday the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that, after receiving ‘the good personal letter sent by President Trump,’ Mr. Kim expressed ‘great satisfaction.’”
–Choe Sang-Hun, “Kim Jong-un Praises Trump’s ‘Unusual Determination’ to Hold Second Summit,” The New York Times online, January 23, 2019