The president, Donald Trump, has sent a birthday greeting to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the Reuters news agency reported Friday.
The North Korean authorities, who strictly control all the information and feed the sacred character of the dictator, advertise on January 8, 1982 as Kim's date of birth, although South Korea believes that the year could be altered for symbolic reasons.
Trump sent his message through the South Korean president , as reported by the director of National Security that country, Chung Eui-yong, who visited Washington last week and met with the president.
The greeting was delivered “ by the appropriate means, ” he added, without giving more details about it, or revealing its exact content, according to the news agency The Associated Press.
Bilateral relations have suffered a deterioration , at least dialectical, in recent weeks, with threats from Kim that Trump has tried to contemplate.
North Korea has not launched any missiles or conducted any atomic tests since 2017, when it said it launched its first intercontinental projectile, supposedly capable of flying through space and hitting the United States with its most powerful weapon , a hydrogen bomb.
After the last nuclear test, in September of that year, Trump changed his rhetoric and stopped ridiculing Kim and threatening to annihilate him, to praise him as a statesman and say they had "fallen in love . "
Now, however, Kim believes that the military tests planned by the United States and South Korea in November and the imposition of new "gangster" sanctions " have cooled " his motivation to freeze his military program.
Trump, meanwhile, has asked the dictator to respect the agreements reached at the Singapore summit in June 2018, the first time they met (another similar one later in Vietnam failed ).
“Look, he likes me, we get along,” said the president on December 31 at his residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), “but we signed a contract, he signed an agreement talking about denuclearization. I think he's a man of his word, and we're going to find out, I think he's a man of this world. ”
North Korea had promised to send “ a Christmas gift ” to the United States, perhaps referring to a nuclear test, although Trump replied: “I know they are sending certain messages about Christmas gifts, and I hope yours is a beautiful vase , that is what I would like, a vase. ”
Experts cited by NBC, however, say that Kim will not leave his atomic arsenal, with up to 40 nuclear warheads, as he considers it key to the survival of his dynasty, which has been ruling this impoverished country for 70 years.
On January 1, Kim announced that he sees no reason to continue freezing his nuclear program and that he will soon present to the world " a new strategic weapon ."
Read also:
North Korea announces "a new weapon." Before he promised a "Christmas gift." But Trump says: "He likes me"
Trump says North Korea's Christmas gift can be 'a beautiful vase'
North Korea defines Joe Biden as "a rabid dog" who "has to be killed"
