Threat of armed conflict returns to Korean Peninsula as Trump says US military 'is ready'

The threat of military conflict has returned to the Korean Peninsula after Donald Trump cancelled a potentially historic summit with Kim Jong-un and warned the US military was ready if he took any “foolish action”.

The US president said he was pulling out of the meeting planned for 12 June in Singapore because of the “open hostility” Pyongyang had displayed in recent days.

Some analysts said Mr Trump had allowed hawks within his government, such as national security adviser John Bolton, to undermine the talks before they were given a chance. Notably, South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who played a crucial role in establishing back channels for secret negotiations to take place, said he was “perplexed” by Washington’s decision.

After several days during which Mr Trump appeared to be signalling that preparations for the planned meeting were not going well, he said he was pulling out because of the “tremendous anger and open hostility” in the latest remarks from North Korea. He called it a “truly sad moment in history”.

“I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” he wrote in a letter, which was said to have been dictated by Mr Bolton. “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, speaking to reporters at the White House, he said that the US would continue to enforce sanctions against North Korea and that the Pentagon’s stance had not altered.

“Our military is ready if necessary,” said Mr Trump. “Likewise, 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.”

While Mr Trump in his letter left open the prospect of a future summit if Mr Kim’s stance changed, it was unclear whether he really believed this was possible. Ned Price, former National Security Council spokesperson and special assistant to Barack Obama, told The Independent he believed the president had been “torn between his personal desire for a diplomatic win, and, potentially a Nobel Peace Prize, and [Mr] Bolton’s appetite for military conflict”.

He said: “I think the erraticism and the recklessness we've seen here is the push and pull between Trump’s instincts and those of his advisers. This, I think, will be a reminder to all of those countries that Donald Trump’s America can't be trusted. Even when we do the right things and make the right move one day, we may pull the rug out from under them in the next.”

The announcement by Mr Trump followed 10 days or so during which it had become clear that talks with North Korea may not be going so well. While the White House had said the aim of the summit was to bring about the “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula, different members of his team voiced in public, different views about how this might be achieved.

Two weeks ago, North Korea puled out of a planned meeting with South Korea, citing ongoing joint military drills between the US and South Korea and describing them as a “provocation”. The cancellation of the meeting, coming so soon after the historic 27 April summit between Mr Kim and Mr Moon in the demilitarised area between the two countries, startled many observers and led some to suggest something was wrong.

Such suspicions were confirmed when North Korea denounced comments made by Mr Bolton, who said North Korea should scrap its weapons as a starting point for talks.

After North Korea reacted negatively to such remarks, Mr Trump appeared to try and reassure Mr Kim that the US did not want to pursue the so-called “Libya option” for North Korea, a reference to Muammar Gaddafi’s unilateral decision in 2003 to scrap his country's nuclear and chemical weapons programme in exchange for better relations with the West. He was ultimately killed in October 2011 following the Arab Spring uprising, after rebels were supported by Nato war planes.

While Mr Trump’s comments were seemingly intended to push the point to Mr Kim that he would remain the leader of his country, which he said would have a bright future, he also said Mr Kim would receive Gaddafi’s fate if he did not give up his weapons.

Such a view was repeated by Vice President Mike Pence, who warned North Korea not to try and “play” Mr Trump. “I don’t think President Trump is thinking about public relations, he’s thinking about peace,” said Mr Pence.

He later told Fox News: “There was some talk about the Libya model. As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn't make a deal.”

On Thursday, North Korea reacted strongly to Mr Pence’s comments, calling him a “dummy” for comparing North Korea to Libya.

Choe Son Hui, a vice-minister in the North Korean foreign ministry, said if the US continued on its current path, she would suggest to her nation that they reconsider the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States,” Ms Choe said in comments carried by North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency.

Mr Trump’s announcement came hours after Ms Choe’s comments. Little has been made public about the negotiations that have been led by secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Andrew Kim, head of the CIA’s Korea Mission Centre based in Langley, Virginia.

South Korea’s Mr Moon, who called an emergency cabinet meeting after Mr Trump made his announcement, urged North Korea and the US to find some way to make the talks happen.

“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,” the Yonhap news agency quoted Mr Moon as saying.

In his comments, Mr Trump said he believed that he had been developing a “wonderful dialogue” with the man whom just months ago he mocked as “rocket man” and whose country he threatened to “totally destroy” in a speech at the UN General Assembly.

“Some day I very much look forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now at home with their families,” he said. “That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.”

A number of commentators have voiced concerns that planning for the 12 June summit, which would have represented one of the most significant geopolitical encounters since the end of the Cold War, was progressing too quickly. Experts said it may have been more productive to allow Mr

Pompeo and his team to prepare the ground work for the summit, rather than trying to fix a date so soon.

Yet Mr Trump appeared to be caught up in the idea of a breakthrough on an issue, that his predecessor, Mr Obama, had warned would be one of the toughest challenges he would face during his presidency.

At the same time, the natural show man wanted to pull off something no other US president had done; no sitting US president has met with either of the three members of the Kim dynasty that have ruled North Korea since its creation in 1948.

In Washington, Mr Pompeo told the Senate foreign relations committee that the lack of response was an additional reason for Mr Trump’s decision to call off the meeting. He said: “We had received no response to our enquiries from them.”

Christine Ahn, a Korea expert and founder of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women that has worked for peace on the Korean peninsula, said from Seoul she was not entirely surprised by developments, given the US’s rhetoric towards North Korea.

She said she believed there were people within Mr Trump’s administration, notably Mr Bolton, who did not want the talks to proceed. As such, he had undone much of the hard work performed by Mr Pompeo.

“Trump has left open the door, there is still the desire there,” she said. “But he needs to start acting like a global leader and stop talking about his weapons.”

Tom Collina, who has worked with the administrations of Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton on nuclear non-proliferation and who is director of policy at the Ploughshares fund, said “diplomacy is the way we’re going to solve this problem”.

“So putting it off, delaying this process doesn’t seem to make much sense,” he added. “And, the reasons Trump decided to delay it doesn’t make sense - ostensibly because the North Koreans insulted Vice President Pence - that makes no sense.”

The development came as a small group of international media selected by North Korea witnessed the demolition of tunnels at the Punggye-ri site on Thursday, which Pyongyang said was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing.

Reuters said the apparent destruction of what North Korea says is its only nuclear test site has been widely welcomed as a positive, if largely symbolic, step towards resolving tension over its weapons. North Korean leader Mr Kim has declared his nuclear force complete, amid speculation the site was obsolete anyway.