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SEOUL (AFP) – The headless body of Kim Jong Un’s executed uncle has been shown to top North Korean officials, US President Donald Trump told the author of an upcoming book on the US president.
Jang Song Thaek, the North Korean leader’s uncle by marriage and an enormously powerful figure within the regime, was purged for treason and corruption in 2013, in what was widely seen as Kim’s merciless assertion of his authority.
Mr. Kim “tells me everything. He told me everything,” Trump told Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward, according to his upcoming book Rage.
“He killed his uncle and put the body on the steps,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to a building used by senior officials.
“And the head was cut off, sitting on the chest,” he added in excerpts from the book seen by Agence France-Presse.
North Korea has never officially stated how Jang was executed, although several reports say an anti-aircraft weapon was used.
Trump’s account, apparently intended to demonstrate his close relationship with Kim, is the first by a senior official to mention the beheading.
Nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled since the collapse of the Hanoi summit last year over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in return.
Pyongyang officials said they had offered to “dismantle all nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area,” but analysts say the North has several other nuclear sites.
According to the book, Trump demanded that five sites be abandoned.
“Listen, one doesn’t help and two don’t help and three don’t help and four don’t help. Five do help,” he said.
Yongbyon was the largest site in the North, Kim responded according to excerpts from the book. “He’s also the oldest,” Trump told the author who responded.
However, Kim offered no further concessions and Trump told him: “He’s not ready to make a deal.”
“I have to go,” he added, to Kim’s surprise.
‘I AM REALLY VERY OFFENDED’
The collapse of the summit came despite high expectations on both sides beforehand, but according to the book, Trump continued to insist on total denuclearization even after the couple’s surprise meeting several months later in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.
“It was an honor to cross into your country,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim two days after the meeting, when he became the first sitting US president to set foot in the north.
He urged Kim to come up with a “big problem” that will “free you of your nuclear charge.”
Rage, scheduled to hit stalls next week, reveals 25 letters the couple exchanged, in which Kim repeatedly compliments Trump.
The DMZ meeting was supposed to restart the talks process, but the United States and South Korea conducted military exercises a few weeks later, and Kim subsequently wrote to Trump: “I am clearly offended and do not want to hide this feeling from you. I am really very offended. “
Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have since stalled, and ties between North and South have collapsed, but Trump insisted he still had a good relationship with Kim.
“He likes me. I like him. We get along well,” he said.
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