--- title: President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love' description: President Donald Trump said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “fell in love” over the course of their on-again off-again detente. canonical: https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-30T13:53:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:35:32.726Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love' og:description: Pyongyang’s top diplomat said earlier there was “no way” the country would disarm og:url: https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf4057eb7f46158/69893b82096a9449a46a394f/gettyimages-1043209032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3900 og:image:height: 2194 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds "Make America Great Again" Rally In West Virginia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love' twitter:description: Pyongyang’s top diplomat said earlier there was “no way” the country would disarm twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf4057eb7f46158/69893b82096a9449a46a394f/gettyimages-1043209032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Sep 30, 2018 1:53 PM UTC  President Donald J. Trump speaks to supporters at his rally inside the WesBanco Arena on September 29, 2018 in Wheeling, West Virginia. President Donald J. Trump speaks to supporters at his rally inside the WesBanco Arena on September 29, 2018 in Wheeling, West Virginia. Jeff Swensen—Getty Images by [Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg Contributor Sep 30, 2018 1:53 PM UTC President Donald Trump said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “fell in love” over the course of their on-again off-again detente, hours after Pyongyang’s top diplomat said there was “ no way” the country would disarm under current conditions. “He wrote me beautiful letters,” Trump said of Kim Saturday during a rally in Wheeling, West Virginia. “And they’re great letters. We fell in love.” Trump has made repeated efforts to flatter Kim, even as talks aimed at ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program sputtered following the two leaders’ landmark June summit in Singapore. Kim and Trump are actively planning a second summit, but there are still signs that the talks haven’t advanced. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, North Korea’s top diplomat said the nation won’t dismantle its nuclear weapons until it has “sufficient trust” in the U.S., and called on the Trump administration to drop its “coercive methods” such as sanctions. The remarks by North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho underscored lingering friction between the nations, even as they plan a second Trump-Kim meeting. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said he had a “very positive meeting” with Ri, and agreed to visit North Korea next month to prepare for another summit. At the UN, North Korea repeated its request to the U.S. to declare the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with a cease-fire but without a peace treaty. Skeptics of Kim’s motivations worry that the U.S. might withdraw troops from South Korea and that UN sanctions could be lifted if the war is declared over. North and South Korea see declaring the end of the war as a key to building trust between the U.S. and North Korea. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/"},"headline":"President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love'","datePublished":"2018-09-30T13:53:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:35:32.726Z","description":"Pyongyang’s top diplomat said earlier there was “no way” the country would disarm","url":"https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/","keywords":["North Korea","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf4057eb7f46158/69893b82096a9449a46a394f/gettyimages-1043209032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf4057eb7f46158/69893b82096a9449a46a394f/gettyimages-1043209032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds \"Make America Great Again\" Rally In West Virginia","caption":"Donald Trump Holds \"Make America Great Again\" Rally In West Virginia","creditText":"Jeff Swensen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/north-korea/","name":"North Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5411002/trump-kim-jon-un-fell-in-love/","name":"President Trump Says He and Kim Jong-Un 'Fell in Love'"}}]}] ```