The on-again, off-again summit meeting scheduling had all the earmarks of a television cliffhanger from a president who made a name for himself hosting a reality show on NBC for 14 years, only this time there were deadly serious consequences.
After Mr. Trump canceled the summit meeting last week, a White House official briefing reporters said it would be extremely difficult to reschedule it for June 12 because time was so short. But the president dismissed such concerns, insisting that the two sides go ahead with the original date.
“We think it’s important,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think we would be making a big mistake if we didn’t have it. I think we’re going to have a relationship, and it will start on June 12.”
The only other time a sitting American president has met with a North Korean official was in October 2000 when Bill Clinton hosted an envoy from Pyongyang at the White House. Much like his latter-day counterpart would 18 years later, the envoy delivered a personal letter from the country’s leader, then Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un.
The letter delivered Friday was meant to smooth over the rift of the past week, although its contents were undisclosed. Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but later said that he had not actually read it. “I purposely didn’t open the letter,” he said.
The envoy who delivered it, Kim Yong-chol, is seen as one of Kim Jong-un’s closest advisers and worked for Kim Jong-il, as well. He is on American sanctions lists and had to be given special permission to travel to Washington. Kim Yong-chol was said to be behind the sinking of a South Korean ship among other hostile acts, and North Korea’s spy agency on his watch was cited for cyberattacks.
He arrived at the White House in a black Chevrolet Suburban and was met by John F. Kelly, the president’s chief of staff, who ushered him to the Oval Office. Mr. Kim was accompanied by four other officials, but he brought only a translator with him into the Oval Office, where he presented his leader’s letter to Mr. Trump in an oversize envelope and the two posed for pictures.
Source : Nytimes
