President Donald Trump has cancelled the much-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un blaming “tremendous anger and open hostility” towards the US.
The president’s decision came after North Korea issued another angry retort to the US following comments made by Vice President Mike Pence in which he warned that North Korea could end up like Libya.
Trump wrote a letter to Jong-un to announce his abrupt withdrawal from what would have been a first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12.
“I was very much looking forward to being there with you,” Trump said in an open letter released by the White House. “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 said the cancellation of the meeting was for the good of both parties “but to the detriment of the world”.
In his letter, he said Jong-un should not “hesitate to call me or write” if he changed his mind about their now-cancelled summit.
Taking to social media Trump wrote: “I have decided to terminate the planned Summit in Singapore on June 12th.”
Trump lost patience with Jong-un after a North Korean official threatened a nuclear “showdown” if the planned talks were to fail.
The attack was the second by North Korea in a week and was the final straw for the White House. The summit had increasingly been in doubt after North Korea last week threatened to pull out over comments made by Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton.
In his letter to the North Korean leader, the president said: “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.”