North Korea said Friday it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision that has thrown the Korean Peninsula once more into uncertainty.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming “open hostility” from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any “foolish or reckless acts.”
In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a “trail of broken promises” by the North.
Pyongyang’s immediate reaction to the sudden u-turn was surprisingly conciliatory. First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump’s decision “unexpected” and “regrettable” but he left the door open for further diplomacy.
“We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem,” he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had “completely” dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.
But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt.
Trump’s announcement came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence “ignorant and stupid.”
“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,” read Trump’s letter to Kim, which was dictated word for word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.
“This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history,” Trump added.
