Trump cancels summit with North Korea

On Thursday, President Trump canceled a summit with Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, scheduled for next month in Singapore. In a letter to the Leader released by the White House on Thursday morning, Trump stated that the upcoming meeting felt “inappropriate” given their situation. The cancellation was given to, according to the president, a feeling of “tremendous anger and hostility” from part of North Korea.

The summit, which had the potential of being a remarkable achievement for Trump, has been canceled after days of tension between the two leaders, with the U.S. repeatedly requesting for the dismantling of the North Korean nuclear arms program. After the cancellation, President Trump went on to state that the U.S. army would be “ready if necessary” in the case of North Korean taking military action towards the nation. He also remarked that South Korea and Japan, the former of which was involved in moving forward the idea for the summit, would also be affected by this if Trump found it necessary.

The president then stated that he would be willing to meet with Kim, in order to discuss the denuclearization of North and South Korea, despite showing flexibility towards the dismissal of the former’s nuclear program. Trump described the cancellation and North Korea’s recent relationship with the U.S. “a tremendous setback for North Korea … and for the world,” adding that this will result in economic sanctions to the nation.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has stated concern with the outcome of the dialogue, expressing that it was unexpected for him, yet that he does not question any of the two parties’ intentions and genuine animosity for negotiation. This comes after repeatedly expressing, alongside his country’s officials, optimism for the summit and the expectation that it would go along nicely. He stated, “It is difficult to deal with these sensitive and difficult diplomatic problems with this current way of communicating,” making a reference to the indirect method of communication between the two leaders.

Throughout recent days, North Korea had shown itself much more skeptical and uncertain about their participation in the summit, reacting to Trump’s decisive demands. There was an official statement where they mentioned that the U.S. must decide to “meet [North Korea] in a meeting room or encounter us at [a] nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.” A close aid to Kim Jong-un went on to release several statements against the Trump administration, particularly showing opposition to Vice-president Mike Pence’s comments during Monday referring to the downfall of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and advising for North Korea to follow the “Libyan model” in regards to its nuclear program. After giving up his nuclear program, Gaddafi was killed by a Western-backed intervention in 2011.

Previous to Thursday’s events, White House aids had shown their concerns regarding the meeting, given the fact that North Korea was unwilling to meet them for planning or setting logistics for the summit. They were nervous given the uncertainty surrounding the event. A foreign diplomat familiar with preparation for events of this nature had begun to notify other countries last week that the summit may not occur, which resulted in concern from their end, fearing that the meeting would be inconclusive and wouldn’t help to the political relations between the two countries.

The decision for the cancellation came less than 24 hours after Moon left the White House after a series of meetings. The former South Korean nuclear negotiator with the North Chun Yung-woo stated that “if North Korea is not serious about denuclearization as understood generally, it would have been dangerous to hold the summit as scheduled”.

Thursday’s news have already shocked and caused a reaction from Capitol Hill, with some showing a strong disagreement with the administration’s mention of the “Libyan model,” some highlighting a lack of preparation for the communications held with North Korea and with some supporting Trump for backing up from the summit when he observed an unwillingness for negotiating denuclearization from Kim.