Trump releases letter from Kim Jong Un, touts "great progress"

Several days previously, Pyongyang had slated the U.S. for seeking unilateral and forced denuclearization from North Korea.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Virginia, wrote to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Thursday, asking him to answer a number of questions related to North Korea's progress, in light of statements made by President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

However, officials say it could be months before excavations can begin and years until the remains are identified.

If the agency does return to North Korea, he said cooperation will be key.

During Pompeo's recent trip, meant to negotiate the details of the nuclear agreement signed during the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, North Korea called denuclearization demands by the US "gangster-like".

Kim Boo-kyum, minister of the interior and safety, said the suspension of the civilian drills was a follow-up to the suspension of the military exercises amid recent changes in "South-North relations and other security situations".

Meanwhile, the Pentagon put a dollar amount - about US$14 million - on the costs of Freedom Guardian, which was shelved after Trump met with Kim in a historic summit Singapore last month.

Pyongyang has reportedly asked the United Nations Command Armistice Commission to upgrade the talks to a higher level to include a US general, South Korea's foreign ministry said. "They didn't give it", Trump told reporters when asked about the CD. But the North Korean leader never showed up during Pompeo's three-day visit.

The two sides had been expected to discuss at the Korean Peninsula's demilitarized zone the return of USA troop remains from the 1950-1953 war - an arrangement that the State Department had announced after Secretary Mike Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang last Friday and Saturday. The discussions about returning Americans soldiers killed nearly 70 years ago was perhaps the most tangible outcome from Pompeo's trip, which analysts expected would at least secure the release of some remains.

North Korea also proposed to reschedule the meeting for Sunday.

On Monday Trump reiterated his confidence in Kim.

An estimated 30,000 USA soldiers died in the 1950-53 Korean war. "Great progress being made", Trump said in a tweet that also included a copy of the correspondence from Kim.

Between 1996 and 2005, some 33 recovery operations were conducted in North Korea which saw 200 sets of remains returned.