Trump saluted DPRK leader Kim Jong-un this Sunday after hearing reports about the absence of nuclear missiles from a military parade on Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang this Sunday, as the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK) marks its 70th anniversary. The parade featured 12,000 soldiers, tanks and conventional missiles instead of nuclear weapons.
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Trump saw it as a positive sign as well as a message that denuclearization is in play, saying that it looks like a “good dialogue from two people that like each other.”
“This is a big and very positive statement from North Korea. Thank you To Chairman Kim,” Trump tweeted, noting that the theme of the parade was “peace and economic development.”
Earlier on Friday Trump said he expected a letter from Kim. Relations between the two have been on a rollercoaster even before their historic meeting in June in Singapore. The US president and the North Korean leader discussed and agreed on “final, fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea after a long standoff over Pyongyang's development of new types of nuclear missiles and nuclear tests.
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At the end of August, however, Trump canceled US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled visit to DPRK, saying that there had been no essential progress on denuclearization. The US leader expressed concern that talks with North Korea could suffer because of “negative pressure” on a potential nuclear deal.