President Donald Trump has cancelled the controversial summit with North Korea.
In a politely-worded letter to North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un, Trump wrote:
“I was very much looking forward to being there with you. 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. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.”
Trump vowed to meet Kim “some day” and complimented him for the “wonderful dialogue”—but Trump also signaled to Kim that the cancelled summit wouldn’t mean North Korea gets off scot-free.
“You talk about your nuclear capabilities,” Trump warned, “but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”
The summit had been scheduled for Singapore on June 12, and would have been the first face-to-face meeting ever between a leader of North Korea and the United States.
But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed North Korea for failing to help the U.S. prepare for the summit.
“Over the past many days, we have endeavored to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed, was to put teams, preparation teams together to begin to work to prepare for the summit, and we had received no response to our inquiries from them” he said, necessitating the summit’s cancellation.
