The unlikely correspondence between President George W. Bush and Kim Jong-il took a new turn yesterday when Mr Bush said he had received a response to a personal letter to North Korea's reclusive leader.

Although in 2002 Mr Bush famously branded North Korea as part of the "axis of evil", his emissary Christopher Hill travelled to Pyongyang this month with a letter signed by the president, addressed to Mr Kim and beginning "Dear Mr Chairman". In another symbolic step, the New York Philharmonic has agreed to give a concert in Pyongyang, with the encouragement of the state department.