Trump claims to be in contact with NK leader Kim Jong Un
Key takeaways:
- According to associates, since leaving the White House, former US President Donald Trump has maintained contact with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Un.
- Private citizens in the United States are prohibited from negotiating with foreign governments without prior authorization under the Logan Act of 1799.
According to a report on Thursday, former US President Donald Trump has told associates that he has maintained contact with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Un since leaving the White House, amid rising tensions over recent North Korean missile tests.
"As we all know, he was fixated on this relationship," CNN's Maggie Haberman reported for the New York Times. "The Confidence Man," her upcoming book on Trump, contains the revelation.
After exchanging letters, Trump famously declared in 2018 that he and Kim "fell in love," but three meetings with Kim failed to persuade him to give up his nuclear weapons and missiles.
According to Haberman, Trump's claims could not be verified and could be false.
"What he says and what happens aren't always in sync," she explained, "but he's been telling people that he's had some kind of correspondence or conversation with Kim Jong Un."
She stated that it is the only foreign leader with whom Trump has stated that he maintains contact.
The US State Department turned down to comment on the report, and the White House did not instantly respond when asked if it was aware of such contact. Trump's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Logan Act of 1799 bans private citizens in the United States from negotiating with foreign governments without prior authorization.
Jenny Town, the director of the Washington-based North Korea project 38 North, said Trump was known to exaggerate and that any messages he sent were likely just greetings that were not returned.
"However, if this is true, and there is substantive communication taking place without coordination or discussion with the White House, this could be extremely problematic as well as potentially counterproductive to US interests," she said.
President Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly called for a resumption of talks with North Korea but has steered clear of summit diplomacy in favor of more detailed, lower-level engagement, which has been rebuffed.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden referred to Kim as a "thug," but he said he would meet with him if he agreed to talk about his nuclear program and their advisers first to lay the groundwork.
Despite Trump's direct personal engagement with Kim, relations between the United States and North Korea deteriorated following the failure of their 2019 summit in Hanoi, with Pyongyang stating that it would not engage further unless Washington changed its hostile policies.
The Washington Post reported that communique with Kim was between the presidential records found in 15 boxes retrieved from Trump's Florida home by the National Archives last month.
North Korea's recent missile tests, including the first of an intermediate-range ballistic missile since 2017, have sparked fears that it is preparing to resume tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as nuclear weapons, which it hasn't done since 2017.
On Tuesday, North Korea boasted that it is one of only a few countries with nuclear weapons and advanced missiles and that it is the only one defying the US by "shaking the world" with missile tests.