The scheduled meeting in Singapore on June 12 between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been pot off as hostility heightened between two countries over a statement made by the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
President Trump called off the meeting in a letter sent to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un on Thursday saying, “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump wrote to Kim. “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.”
This came after the North Koreans called Vice President Pence as a “political dummy” after he threatened them with the Gaddafi treatment. The comparison with Libya angered the North Koreans. Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development program, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters.
“Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States,” Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said.
Though Trump’s letter to Kim was conciliatory, it also referred to the possibility of war.
“You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God that they will never have to be used,” he said.