Kim Jong-un offers his sympathy to Donald and Melania Trump, 'sincerely hopes' they recover from Covid-19 soon
Donald Trump has left many of his followers in distress ever since he announced testing positive for coronavirus. In the same tweet, he also mentioned that his wife Melania Trump had also tested positive. Soon afterward, he was airlifted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for further observation and treatment. After his children Eric and Ivanka Trump reached out to American masses to pray for the wellbeing of their father, it looks like the US president is receiving wishes from across the world.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a message to Trump wishing him a quick recovery. According to the state media, "he offered his sympathy to the president and the first lady". According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), "He sincerely hoped that they would be recovered as soon as possible. He hoped they will surely overcome it. He sent warm greetings to them."
According to a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, it was the first time Kim had sent well wishes to a world leader who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
But there was a time when the two weren't the thickest of allies. They had exchanged threats of destruction and insults in 2017 after North Korea carried out a series of high profile weapons tests purportedly to launch nuclear strikes on the US. At the time, Trump had said that he would rain "fire and fury" on North Korea and derided Kim as a "little rocket man" on a suicide mission. On the other hand, Kim said he would "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire".
But they seem to have come a long way since then even staging the first meeting between a sitting US President and a North Korean leader, according to reports. In 2018, Kim reached out to Trump for talks on his ever-advancing nuclear weapons. According to several reports, nothing substantial emerged in terms of Pyongyang's denuclearization, and talks have been officially at a standstill for months although US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in mid-September that talks were ongoing behind the scenes.
Trump had once even declared that the two "fell in love" after exchanging letters, and consistently portrayed his close relationship with Kim as one of his foreign policy achievements in the public eye. According to journalist Bob Woodward's recently published book 'Rage', in a letter to Trump, Kim called the U.S. president "your excellency" and said he believed the "deep and special friendship between us will work as a magical force."
After his hospitalization, Trump had taken to Twitter to update his followers with his health with a video. "I want to thank everybody for the tremendous support. I'm going to Walter Reed hospital. I think I am doing very well but we are going to make sure that things work out. The first lady is doing very well," he said.
Earlier on Friday, Trump was reported to be "fatigued" after contracting the infection. "President Trump remains in good spirits, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day. Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days," McEnany said in the statement on Friday.