Seoul: U.S. President Donald Trump is “receptive” to correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and aims to rebuild the progress achieved during their initial summit in 2018, a White House spokesperson stated. Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, delivered these remarks following a report by NK News that highlighted North Korean diplomats in New York had declined to accept a letter from Trump intended to reopen communication channels between Washington and Pyongyang.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Leavitt confirmed the president’s openness to communication with Kim Jong-un during a press briefing, expressing Trump’s desire to see the progress from the Singapore summit revisited. She refrained from providing details on specific correspondence, indicating that such matters were for the president to address.

This development surfaces amid expectations that Trump might pursue a revival of his personal diplomacy with Kim, which previously resulted in three face-to-face meetings: the first in Singapore in 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019, and a third at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in June 2019. The report elaborated that Trump’s drafted letter to Kim sought to restart dialogue, but North Korean diplomats at their U.N. mission in New York “bluntly” refused its acceptance despite numerous delivery attempts.

When queried about the report, a State Department spokesperson informed Yonhap News Agency that the department does not comment on potential diplomatic communications. While Trump’s interest in rekindling dialogue with Kim has generated cautious optimism, there are ongoing concerns that Kim may show little interest in talks with Washington due to North Korea’s dependence on Russia for essential resources and support.

President Trump has expressed intentions to reach out to Kim once more, maintaining that he still holds a “good” relationship with the North Korean leader, whom he described as a “smart guy,” acknowledging North Korea’s status as a “nuclear power.” The second Trump administration remains committed to pursuing complete denuclearization of North Korea. Additionally, the new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s administration is anticipated to coordinate policies with Washington to address Pyongyang’s nuclear issue.