Calling it quits, US Prez Donald Trump pulls off the much anticipated US-North Korea summit; North Korea still ready for talks

Washington, May 25: The country had eyes on the much-anticipated summit between North Korea and the United States scheduled on June 12 has called it quits. US President Donald Trump has canceled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming increasingly hostile speech-making from Pyongyang.

After several days during which the president appeared to be signaling that secret negotiations ahead of his planned meeting for June 12 were not going well, he said he was pulling out of the meeting because of the “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a recent statement from Kim Jong Un. He called it a “missed opportunity” and “truly sad moment in history”.

 

Prez Trump said later that the meeting, which had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, could still happen, and North Korea issued a strikingly conciliatory response, saying it hoped President Donald Trump would reconsider. But Prez Trump renewed talk of military action against the North and vowed to keep pressing economic sanctions, guaranteeing that for now; at least, his unlikely courtship of North Korea Kim Jong Un will give way to a more familiar cycle of threats and tension.

 

North Korea has said that it is still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump canceled a summit between the two countries. North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said that the abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected and North Korea finds it ‘extremely regrettable.’

Speaking at the White House later, Prez Trump said he remained open to dialogue but had spoken to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and warned North Korea against any “reckless act.”

He said US allies South Korea and Japan also were ready to shoulder much of the financial burden “if an unfortunate situation is forced upon us” by North Korea. He added the United States would continue its “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.