Kim Jong Un Reaffirms Commitment To Nuclear-Free Korea, Still Trusts Trump

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met South Korean envoys Wednesday and reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, state-controlled media reported Thursday.

The five-member delegation from Seoul, led by National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong, handed over a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Kim. "The special delegation met with Chairman Kim Jong-un to deliver the personal letter (from Moon) and exchange their opinions," Seoul's presidential office said in a brief statement post the meeting.

After the meeting, South Korea announced that the third inter-Korean summit will be held in Pyongyang from Sept. 18 to 20.

According to a presidential official, the North Korean leader said he still has faith in President Donald Trump despite the ongoing standoff between Washington and Pyongyang. He also said he never talked negatively about Trump to anyone including his closest advisers and wished for the two nations to put an end to their hostile relations before the end of Trump’s first term, The Washington Post reported.

According to Korean Central News Agency, Kim said “he fully supports and sympathizes with the President's determination and that he remains unchanged in his determination to strive hard to bring the fellow countrymen better results at an early date, bearing in mind the mission before the nation and its expectation.”

“Noting that it is our fixed stand and his will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat, he said that the north and the south should further their efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” the news agency added.

The meeting allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track with Trump. The recent sanctions on North Korea had generated widespread skepticism over Trump’s claims that Kim is willing to dismantle his nuclear weapons program.

Prior to the meeting, Moon, who was playing a mediator role to keep the nuclear talks alive, spoke with Trump on phone Tuesday. “President Moon explained in detail that the special envoy will be sent to prepare for S. Korea-N. Korea summit and to settle permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula through denuclearisation,” the presidential office said in a separate statement, South China Morning Post reported.

The United States wants North Korea to take concrete steps toward denuclearization, including submitting a list of its nuclear arms and facilities. However, Pyongyang had earlier said that will only be possible after Washington declares an end to the Korean War.

South Korea said Tuesday that the delegation may also convey the U.S’ stance to the communist North.

"We will continue to put in efforts so that an end-of-war declaration can be reached by the end of the year. We are always closely communicating with the United States. We are also sharing information related to the visit by the special delegation to North Korea and holding close discussions," it said.

“Our government believes that an end-of-war declaration is very much needed while we enter a process toward stabilizing peace in the Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization,” Chung said Tuesday, The Globe And Mail reported.

He also said an improvement in inter-Korean relations may even help salvage the stalled denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

"We believe development in South-North Korean relations may be a force driving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that we may tow negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through development in the South-North relationship if necessary," he added.