Trump has spoken fondly of the "beautiful letters" Kim wrote to him after their first meeting and, during this year's campaign, said he could rein in the North Korean leader's behavior; the president-elect says Kim "misses" him. Newsweek has reached out to Trump's team and the North Korean embassy in Beijing for comment.

Carlson, a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has long pushed his distinctly pro-Russian views. He’s downplayed the country’s conflict with Ukraine and promoted a Russian-based conspiracy theory that the U.S. was plotting to supply Ukraine with bioweapons.

Pyongyang has ignored four years of outreach by Biden and has been emboldened by a much closer relationship with Russia’s Putin.