Trump-North Korea summit: World reacts as US president cancels Kim Jong-un meeting
Doubts have been building over the status of the summit for days
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has cancelled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming increasingly hostile rhetoric from Pyongyang.
After several days during which the president appeared to be signalling 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 Mr Kim. He called it a "missed opportunity" and "truly sad moment in history."
It had been Mr Trump's ambition to securing a peace deal with North Korea - something that none of his predecessors were able to do - has now apparently been placed on the back burner.
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"I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," he said in a letter to North Korea which was made public. "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."
Later, at the White House, President Trump said the US is "more ready than we have ever been before." He warned that the US, South Korea and Japan are all ready should North Korea take any "foolish and reckless acts."
"I have spoken to South Korea and Japan, and they are not only ready should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated by the United States in operations if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us," Trump said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with his top security and other aides after the release of the letter.
Blue House press secretary Yoon Young-chan said Mr Moon was meeting with his foreign minister, defense minister and his chief of staff, among others.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced deep disappointment at the cancellation of the planned meeting. Mr Guterres, in remarks delivered at the University of Geneva, said: “I am deeply concerned by the cancellation of the planned meeting in Singapore between the President of the United States and the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.”
He urged the parties to continue their dialogue so as to “find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
Reuters contributed to this report
Here is the video of some of the remarks by President Trump from the White House.
Via Reuters, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has expressed deep regret about the US decision to cancel the meeting. Notably, it appears the South Korean leader either does not share, or does not understand, the US's reasoning.
"I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-US summit will not be held on June 12 when it was scheduled to be held," Mr Moon was quoted as saying at a meeting with his top security officials.
The US military has said that it had not increased the already high-level of vigilance or changed its posture on North Korea after President Donald Trump called off a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
"There is a high state of vigilance - the state of vigilance that we always have because they have proven to be unpredictable in the past," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, joint staff director, said at a Pentagon briefing referring to North Korea.
"But it is not a heightened state of vigilance. It is the normal state of vigilance that we maintain."
Vice President Mike Pence is on his way to Capitol Hill.
Mr Pence is set to attend the Senate policy lunch and is expected to brief senators on the North Korea summit, among other issues.
Mr Trump dictated his letter to Mr Kim to his national security adviser, John Bolton, according to Republican Senator Cory Gardner.
Mr Gardner said the adviser described the letter as a "wake up call" to Mr Kim. He said the North Korean leader had shown a change in attitude after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and demonstrated a "lack of seriousness" in negotiating on denuclearisation, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Gardner met with Mr Bolton on Thursday, hours after Mr Trump announced his decision to pull out of the summit.
The commemorative North Korea summit coins produced by the White House Communications Agency have been put on sale.
An archived version of the White House gift shop site – which since appears to have crashed – listed the President Trump Korea Singapore Summit Coin as the "Deal of the Day" on Thursday. It was marked down from $24.95 to $19.95.
The coins show Mr Trump and Mr Kim in front of their countries' respective flags, with the words "peace talks" embossed at the top.
The Daily Beast is reporting that North Korea “stood up” the US team during summit preparations, according to a White House official
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