Trump said he thinks it is going to be a “positive letter.”

On Thursday, a South Korean envoy who recently returned from meeting with Kim in Pyongyang said that the communist leader reiterated his commitment to denuclearize “if the countermeasures are taken simultaneously.”

The envoy said Kim told him he hoped to have complete denuclearization and end the hostile relationship between North Korea and the United States before 2021. “Chairman Kim Jong Un has made it clear several times that he is firmly committed to denuclearization, and he expressed frustration over skepticism in the international community over his commitment,” Chung Eui-yong, Moon’s national security adviser and the head of the South Korean delegation to Pyongyang, told reporters in Seoul on Thursday. Trump responded Thursday by tweeting, “Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims ‘unwavering faith in President Trump.’ Thank you to Chairman Kim. Trump, who met with Kim face to face in Singapore earlier this summer to begin the long denuclearization process, admitted the relationship started out “very rough” but said the “rhetoric between myself and Kim has been very good.”

The president gushed about Kim on Twitter Thursday following news that Kim wants to reach an agreement before the end of Trump’s first term. The September parade might even see Trump revert to his old nickname of choice for Kim: “Little Rocket Man.”

Beyond the fateful Sept. 9 festivities in Pyongyang, the centerpiece event this month will be the fifth inter-Korean summit meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim. Pyongyang apparently wants to first achieve an official end to the seven-decade state of war with South Korea, while Washington wants to start immediately on the long process of denuclearization. While an end-of-war declaration wouldn’t imply a legally binding peace treaty, experts say it could create political momentum that would make it easier for North Korea to steer the discussions toward a peace regime, diplomatic recognition, economic benefits and security concessions. It was a dramatic change in tone from just two weeks ago when the president called off a meeting between Pompeo and Kim citing a lack of “sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization.”

The president seemed pleased with news of a new letter from Kim, even noting that it’s being delivered in an “elegant way” — that is, not electronically.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea president Moon Jae-in agree to hold a third summit between September 18 and September 20 in Pyongyang.