Featured Image Credit: Xinhua/ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: US News, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, Politics
Jake Massey
Topics: US News, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, Politics
Former US President Donald Trump's 'love letters' to Kim Jong-Un - that were seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort - have been published.
The National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes containing 'highly classified reports' from his Florida residence in January, including correspondences with the North Korean leader that he once termed 'love letters'.
Korean-American Club - a nonprofit composed of South Korean journalists from different news agencies - published 27 letters exchanged between the leaders in the latest issue of its magazine, The Korus Journal.
As per Yahoo! News, Kim wrote that he was 'ready to work with your excellency with all my heart and devotion' ahead of their 2018 summit in Singapore, with Trump responding the same day to say he was 'happy to meet' him.
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Kim sent Trump a letter on his birthday in 2019, referencing the one-year anniversary of their 'historic' meeting in Singapore.
Trump replied a couple of days later, stating that they shared a 'unique relationship and a special friendship'.
Kim also reportedly expressed his desire to personally discuss the denuclearisation of North Korea with Trump.
He wrote: "The most important cause of what your side considers the headache of 'missile threats' and nuclear problem is the military actions of your side and the South Korean military that threatens our safety.
"And until these elements are eliminated, no changed outcome can be anticipated."
Trump sent a total of 16 letters, with Kim sending 11 in return.
More classified documents were seized from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in a raid on 8 August, as part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation.
A property receipt unsealed on 12 August showed the FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also 'sensitive compartmented information' - a special category meant to protect the nation's most important secrets, that if revealed publicly could cause 'exceptionally grave' damage to US interests.
The search warrant said federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defence information under the Espionage Act.
The other statutes address the concealment, mutilation or removal of records and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.
Last week, a US court allowed the Justice Department to resume its use of the classified records as part of its ongoing criminal investigation.
In lifting a hold on a core aspect of the department's probe, the court removed an obstacle that could have delayed the investigation by weeks if not months.
The appeals court also pointedly noted Trump had presented no evidence he had declassified the sensitive records, as he has repeatedly maintained, and rejected the possibility he could have an 'individual interest in or need for' the roughly 100 documents with classification markings that were seized by the FBI.
Trump has previously characterised the investigation as a 'witch-hunt'.
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