People watch a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
May 24, 2018 - 8:30 AM
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump cancelled the planned June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un Thursday, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement from the North.
Trump said in a letter to Kim released by the White House that based on the statement, he felt it was "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting." He added that the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, "but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."
The North Korean statement that he referred to called Vice-President Mike Pence a "political dummy" for his comments on the North and said North Korea is just as ready to meet the U.S. in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table
Trump said in his letter that the world is losing a "great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth" now that their summit has been cancelled.
The president agreed to the historic sit-down in March after months of trading insults and nuclear threats with the North Korean leader. But after criticism from North Korea, Trump cast doubt this week on whether the meeting would happen.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018