North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a message to US President Donald Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus, to wish him to recover “as soon as possible,” state agency KCNA said on Saturday.
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“He expressed his sympathy to the President and the First Lady,” according to KCNA. “He said he sincerely hoped they would recover as soon as possible. He hopes they will overcome this. He sent them warm greetings, ”added the official agency.
According to South Korean agency Yonhap, this is the first time Mr. Kim has sent such greetings to a leader who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Donald Trump announced Friday morning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. At the end of the day, he was transferred by helicopter to a military hospital in the suburbs of Washington. He is being treated with an experimental treatment against COVID-19, synthetic antibodies, and is suffering from fatigue, the White House doctor announced on Friday without giving further details on the president’s symptoms.
The relations between MM. Trump and Kim were freezing at the start of the President’s tenure, before experiencing a sudden warming from June 2018, with three face-to-face meetings. However, these talks did not yield any concrete results on the denuclearization of North Korea.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured in mid-September that discussions were continuing behind the scenes.
Donald Trump has always portrayed his close relationship with Mr. Kim as one of his foreign policy achievements.