Politics

Trump Cancels US-North Korea Summit

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque and Korea Summit Press Pool/File Photos

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump canceled the U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled to take place on June 12, he said in a letter Thursday.

Letter to Chairman Kim Jong Un

The president referenced recent incendiary comments from North Korea about Vice President Mike Pence. “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate at this time, to have this long planned meeting.

North Korea blasted Pence for recent comments referencing the possibility of dismantling Kim Jong Un’s regime if it refuses to de-nuclearize and referencing its nuclear stockpile. The regime said “I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice-president,” adding “we could surmise more than enough what a political dummy he is as he is trying to compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them.”

North Korea also threatened the U.S. saying “to borrow their words, we can also make the U.S. taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined up to now.” (RELATED: North Korea Slams Pence)

Trump replied to North Korea’s threat with one of his own, saying, “You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

Trump noted that he still hopes to meet Kim Jong Un at some point if their regime agrees to the terms set out by the U.S. and said if he changes his mind that they should not hesitate to reach out. The president thanked the North Koreans for releasing three U.S. hostages detained by the regime under false pretenses.