A map showing Sea of Japan and countries surrounding North Korea Credit: Chris 73/Wikimedia Commons
Citing “tremendous anger and open hostility” toward the United States, President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled next month’s planned summit with North Koran leader Kim Jong-un, raising concerns about the future of Korean Peninsula.
In a letter addressed to Kim, the U.S. president acknowledged the implications of this decision to call off the meeting which was being seen internationally as an opportunity to resolve lingering political standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile advancement.
“I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump noted in the letter released by the White House.
The decision to cancel the much-anticipated meeting, Trump argued, was “for the good of both parties,” but also observed that it was “to the detriment of the world.”
While Trump based his decision on the “tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement,” he did not entirely close the possibility of a future meeting to resolve the North Korean question.
“I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters,” Trump noted in the letter.
“Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you,” Trump added.
Trump’s decision following days of acrimonious statements by both sides, more recently Pyongyang’s blistering reaction to Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks about the possibility of a repeat o the Libyan model for North Korea.
Pence said during an interview with Fox News that North Korea “will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn’t make a deal.”
Reacting to the statement Pyongyang threatened to call off the summit with Trump – which was to take place on June 12 in Singapore – and called Pence a “political dummy” for his “unbridled and impudent remarks.
Analysts believe the cancellation of talks is bound to have serious repercussions for the Korean Peninsula and the broader region as well as international peace.
Besides neighbor and regional countries – Japan, South Korea, China – major powers have high political and economic stakes in the region.
The world leader are reacting to cancellation of the meeting with disbelief.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in says he is “baffled and very regretful” by the development and complained that Seoul had no prior information that it was coming.
Moon advocated that the matter be resolved “by direct and closer conversations.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by the cancellation of the planned summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.
Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, where the Secretary-General unveiled his new Agenda for Disarmament, Guterres called on the two parties “to continue their dialogue to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
In New York, Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, responding to a question whether Guterres would play any role in trying to restore the Trump-Kim meeting, said, “The secretary-general is available to all parties to facilitate the process.”
