U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a happy birthday message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is believed to have turned 36 Wednesday. It is the first recent reported contact between the two leaders amid stalled nuclear talks.

Trump asked that South Korea deliver the birthday message to Kim, according to South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who met briefly with Trump this week in Washington.

Chung, who spoke with reporters at the airport after returning to Seoul Friday, said he believed the message was delivered through “proper channels.” It is not clear what else, if anything, was in Trump’s message, what form the message took, or how it was delivered.

Trump and Kim have exchanged personal letters during nearly two years of diplomacy. Trump has hinted the two also talk on the phone. Trump insisted last week the relationship remains “very good,” despite U.S.-North Korea talks being stalled.

In his New Year’s comments, Kim vowed the world would witness an unspecified “new strategic weapon in the near future.” Kim also said he no longer felt bound by his self-imposed suspension of long-range missile and nuclear tests.

Kim did not, however, announce a formal end to negotiations, and North Korea has not delivered its threatened “Christmas gift” to the U.S., which many analysts guessed could be a weapons test.

Source : VOA