Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures when asked about scaling back US drills with South Korea

Donald Trump has ⁠said that ​North Korean leader ⁠Kim Jong-un ⁠has ​responded ‌to his overtures ‌after he ‌ordered the US to scale back military ‌exercises with South ​Korea.

Speaking ‌to reporters in the Oval ‌Office, Trump was asked why Kim had not responded to his overtures. Trump shot back at the reporter: “How do you know he hasn’t responded?” The reporter then asked again if he had.

“Um, yeah he has,” Trump said. Asked what stage the conversations with Kim were at, Trump said “it’s very positive”, but provided no further detail. He added:

double quotation markKim Jong-un has always ​treated ​me with great ​respect and we met ​on numerous ‌occasions, ​actually ​two primary occasions, spoken and spent time. I understand him. He understands me.

Their relationship was ‌a dominant theme during Trump’s first term, including a ​series of meetings between them, but has received less emphasis in his second ⁠term.