Book reveals how North Korea’s Kim wooed Trump with flattery-filled letters

Bob Woodward’s ‘Rage’ unveils 25 letters the pair exchanged, in which Kim fawns over the US president while they formed a most unusual friendship

‘I also believe that the deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force,’ the North Korean leader wrote in a June 2019 missive

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US President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the Hanoi summit in 2019. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:54pm, 10 Sep 2020Updated: 4:00pm, 10 Sep 2020

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un deployed flattery and florid prose in the letters that forged his diplomatic courtship of Donald Trump, according to a new book on the US president.

The pair’s personal relationship has been a key driver of diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang, veering from mutual insults and threats of war to a declaration of love from Trump.

Rage by The Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward unveils 25 letters the pair exchanged, in which Kim uses over-the-top wording as he fawns over Trump while they formed a most unusual friendship.

Addressing Trump as “Your Excellency”, Kim’s letters are filled with flattering language and personal comments, according to transcripts released by CNN.

“Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency’s hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honour of that day,” Kim wrote to Trump on Christmas Day, 2018, following their first meeting in Singapore.

It was the first ever encounter between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president and even after the collapse of their second summit in Hanoi, Kim described Singapore as “a moment of glory that remains a precious memory.”