NORTH KOREA/SANCTIONS/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spoke highly of U.S. President Donald Trump, state media said on Thursday [1-24-19], and expressed satisfaction over the results of talks between officials from both countries about a second summit between Kim and Trump. Kim said he would trust Trump’s approach, the North’s official KCNA news agency said, weeks after Kim warned North Korea could seek a ‘new path’ if U.S. sanctions and pressure continued. That suggested Kim was focused on the next meeting with Trump to produce results…It said Kim expressed ‘large satisfaction’ at receiving a ‘great’ letter from Trump and a briefing about the results of the negotiations from the North Korean delegation that visited Washington last week but did not elaborate. Kim ordered working-level preparations for the second North Korea-U.S. summit to be done well, KCNA said. The White House said last week a second Trump-Kim summit would be held in late February but did not say where.”
–Reuters, “North Korea’s Kim ‘Believes in’ Trump Ahead of Second Trump Summit: KCNA,” The New York Times online, January 23, 2019