The United States has pulled out of next month’s bilateral summit with North Korea.
President Trump announced the move Thursday, in a public letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“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,” said Trump.
Last month, Washington and Pyongyang had agreed to meet on June 12 in Singapore. Last week, North Korean officials said they would “reconsider,” citing remarks made by National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Bolton had said in late April that the Trump administration was following “the Libya model,” in seeking nuclear disarmament from North Korea. Libyan President Moammar Qaddafi was overthrown and killed as the result of NATO intervention, less than a decade after agreeing to abandon nuclear weapons ambitions.
In a statement released on April 16, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan said it was an “awfully sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq.”
“We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feeling of repugnance towards him,” the Vice Minister added.
The White House released its letter Thursday just minutes before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
During previously scheduled testimony, Pompeo claimed the Trump administration canceled next month’s meeting after Pyongyang became non-responsive.
“Over the past many days, we have endeavored to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed, [which] was to put teams, preparation teams, together–to begin to work to prepare for the summit,” he explained, under questioning from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J). “And we had received no response to our inquiries from them.”
Despite calling off the summit, President Trump tried to strike a conciliatory tone in his letter to Kim.
“If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write,” Trump said.
Pompeo echoed these sentiments when testifying before the Senate.
“What am I hopeful is that we can continue to have conversations and put this back on track,” he said.
