Trump describes them as “love letters,” and Woodward writes that Kim is showing Trump a “diplomatic court” from slandering him as a “little rocket man” and threatening “fire and anger.” North Korean leader. Woodward writes that the extraordinary letters are filled with “knights of the round table, or perhaps announcements of personal emotions that can be uttered by the shooters.”
In his letters to Trump, Kim addresses him as “your superior” and stops them with floral prose.
Kim wrote to Trump on December 25, 2018, following their first meeting in Singapore, saying, “I will never forget that moment in history when I held the hand of a nobleman in a beautiful and sacred place with great enthusiasm around the world and with the hope of regaining the honor of that day.”
Kim added that another encounter with “me and your superiors” would be “reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy movie.”
Trump’s answers are very direct, but full of praise.
Trump wrote back to Kim on December 28, “Like you, I have no doubt that a great decision will be reached between our two countries, and you and I are the two leaders who can do that.”
‘A Moment of Glory’
Following the leaders’ second meeting in June 2019, Kim wrote, “Every minute we shared 103 days ago in Hanoi was a tremendous moment, and it is a precious memory.”
“I hope the deep and special friendship between us will act as a magical force,” Kim added.
Shortly before Trump proposed on Twitter that leaders should meet at TMJet, Trump wrote in a June 2019 letter to Kim, “You and I have a unique style and special friendship.”
“As you and I work together to resolve the problems between our two districts, end the nearly 70-year-old animosity and bring an era of prosperity to the Korean Peninsula that will surpass all our great expectations – and you will lead,” Trump wrote. “It will be historic!”
‘I’re really hurt’
Following the TMJ meeting, Trump wrote to Kim on June 30, “It’s really amazing to be with you today,” and has since attached a copy of the front page of The New York Times. Two days later, Trump wrote again, sending 22 photos of their meeting.
“These pictures are fond memories of me and the unique friendship you and I formed,” Trump wrote.
Kim responded a month later, but this time with a new tone, describing Woodward as a “disappointed friend or boyfriend”. Kim lamented that US-South Korean military exercises had not been completely halted.
“I’m clearly hurt. I do not want to hide this feeling from you. I was really hurt,” Kim wrote. “Your Excellency, I am so proud and proud to have a relationship with you to send and receive such honest thoughts with you.”
‘He was totally ready to go’
According to Woodward, Mattis once told Trump, “I have been experiencing public humiliation since second grade.”
In his interviews with Woodward, Trump argues that his decision to meet with Kim avoided war.
“He was completely ready to go,” Trump told Woodward on December 13, 2019. “And he expected to go, but we met.”
In an interview on December 30, Trump told Woodward: “If I were not president, we would be – maybe it’s over now, maybe it will not happen – we would have been in a big war.”
Trump argued that the meeting with Kim was “nothing to give up”, although North Korea did not follow the US’s nuclearisation measures. Critics of Trump say the meetings have given legitimacy to Kim Pyongyang’s nuclear program, which he has actively sought on the world stage.
‘Let’s go to a movie together’
Woodward’s book includes significant color from Trump’s meetings with Kim. At the second summit in February 2019, Trump says he knew Kim was not ready to make a deal, and the two leaders argued that Pyongyang would eliminate any nuclear sites.
“I know every site. I know all of them, I know them better than my people I know. You understand that,” Trump said, according to Woodward. But when Kim was not credited, Trump tried another approach.
“Do you ever do anything other than launch rockets into the air?” Trump asked Kim. “Let’s go to a movie together. Let’s play a round of golf.”
After receiving letters from Woodward Kim, Trump warned him on a January 2020 phone call: “You can not make fun of Kim. I do not want to get involved in a nuclear war because you made fun of him.”
The CIA never determined who wrote and designed Kim’s letters to Trump, but Woodward called them “masterpieces.”
“Analysts were amazed at Trump’s sense of pride and his ability to be the centerpiece of history, and the ability someone came up with to find the right mix for flattery.”
Elizabeth Stuart of CNN contributed to this report.
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