President Trump (L) and North Korea's Kim
Photo: AP
President Trump pulls out of meeting with North Korea's Kim
North Korea's recent statements, including calling VP Pence a 'political dummy,' led to meeting's cancelation; 'World, North Korea lost great opportunity for lasting peace,' Trump laments; leaving door open to diplomacy, Trump now insists Kim reach out to him, but warns that US military was 'ready if necessary' to respond to 'foolish or reckless acts' by North Korea.
US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his historic meeting
with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, slated to take place June 12 in Singapore, was canceled. In a letter to the North Korean leader, Trump wrote he hoped the two could still meet in the future.
While Trump opened the door for diplomacy, he insisted that Kim reach out, placing the blame on the North Korean leader for the collapse of negotiations.
The cancelation of the planned summit, Trump wrote, was a "missed opportunity" that constituted a "truly sad moment in history."
President Trump's statement on North Korea (רויטרס)
In a spoken statement hours later, President Trump declared he was "waiting" to see if the North Korean leader will again "engage in constructive dialogue."
President Trump (L) announced he was canceling his planned summit with North Korea's Kim (Photo: AFP)
He also said that until that happened, tough sanctions on Pyongyang would continue and the US-led "maximum pressure campaign is continuing."
Turning to a more combative stance himself, President Trump said the US military was "ready if necessary" to respond to "foolish or reckless acts" by North Korea.
Trump also said he's been in touch with South Korea and Japan and that both allies were willing to bear much of the financial burden "if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us."
In a later televised statement, Trump said the US military was 'ready if necessary' to respond to 'foolish or reckless acts' by North Korea (Photo: AP)
After Trump's letter was made public, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill, said North Korea had not responded to repeated requests from US officials to discuss logistics for the summit.
He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the lack of responses was an additional reason for Trump's decision.
Pompeo added the North's attitude had changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month during which he met with Kim and oversaw the release of three Americans being held there.
Trump's letter to Kim was published by the White House Thursday afternoon. "I was very much looking forward to being there with you," the president said of his meeting with Kim. "Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."
Trump then urged Kim to "not hesitate" if he changed his mind regarding their summit.
Trump's letter to Kim (Photo: AFP)
"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history," he lamented.
After years of tensions running high, North Korea showed a rare willingness to open channels of dialogue in the past few months, and to hold talks on denuclearization. Last month, a historic summit took place between Kim and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in.
The isolated country then made an obligation to halt its nuclear weapons tests and to close its test site—which was demolished before the eyes of foreign journalists earlier Thursday.
Concurrently with the aforementioned gesture and conciliatory tone of some statements, however, North Korean officials continued threatening the United States.
The White House was quick to capitalize on the summit's public relations, issuing a commemorative coin (Photo: EPA)
The "most recent statement" Trump was referring to, for instance, was most likely a threat published by North Korea Thursday, in which it warned it would pull out of the summit next month and warned it was ready for a nuclear confrontation if need be—while also mocking Trump's Vice President Mike Pence.
In a statement released by North Korean media, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called Vice President Pence a "political dummy" for comparing North Korea—a "nuclear weapons state"—to Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development program, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters.
A White House official later said that North Korea's reaction to Pence's comments were the "last straw" that led the White House to cancel Trump's planned summit, which Trump said later will not be held "for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world."
North Korea previously blasted VP Pence, saying he was a 'political dummy,' later said to be the 'last straw' leading to the US pullout (Photo: AFP)
"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used," the president concluded his statement.
Earlier in the day, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the cancelation of the planned summit.
Guterres told an audience at the University of Geneva that he was urging the parties to keep working "to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Guterres' comments came as he laid out his disarmament agenda Thursday, warning that nuclear agreements between states are threatened like never before.
UN Secretary-General Guterres said he was 'deeply concerned' by the summit's cancelation (Photo: AFP)
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, said Britain was disappointed at the cancellation of the planned meeting.
"We are disappointed that the meeting will no longer go ahead as planned. We need to see an agreement that can bring about the completely verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and we will continue to work with our partners to this end," the spokeswoman told reporters.
She added nuclear powers must do more to promote disarmament, putting a particular onus on Russia and the United States to remedy a world "going backwards" in this area since right after the Cold War.
Foreshadowing the cancelation, Trump said Tuesday during a White House meeting with South Korean President Moon there was a significant chance of the meeting being postponed.
Moon arrived in Washington for consultations, in an effort to convince his American colleague to not give up such a rare chance for dialogue.
South Korea's Moon (L) arrived in Washington earlier this month to dissuade President Trump from withdrawing from the summit (Photo: AP)
It was still unclear whether the US will actually pull out of the meeting at the time of Trump's statement, or whether it was merely a strategic play meant to bring Kim to the negotiations table.
The meeting's cancelation could be said to be ea blow to the president's supporters, who extolled his diplomatic breakthrough on North Korea and went so far as to say he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The president's political opponents, on the other hand, were quick to seize the opportunity to criticize him, saying the cancelation was a "victory for Kim."
Top Democrat Pelosi said the cancelation was a 'win' for Kim (Photo: AP)
The top Democrat in the US House of Representatives said Trump's cancelation of the summit was good for the head of the reclusive nation, adding Trump had legitimized a "thug" and the head of a "police state."
"I think it's a good thing for Kim Jong Un," Nancy Pelosi told reporters. "He got global recognition and regard. He's the big winner. And when he got this letter from the president saying, 'OK, never mind,' he must be having a giggle fit right now, there, in North Korea."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
