President Donald Trump canceled the planned summit with North Korea Thursday and warned that the U. S. military was ready to respond to any “foolish or reckless acts” by the communist state.
SEOUL, South Korea — President Donald Trump canceled the planned summit with North Korea Thursday and warned that the U. S. military was ready to respond to any “foolish or reckless acts” by the communist state.
It was a possibly fatal blow to hopes for a relatively quick diplomatic resolution to the crisis over the North’s nuclear weapons program, which raised fears of a new war last year.
The summit, which would have been the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting U. S. president, had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
Trump announced his decision in a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which was released Thursday hours after the isolated nation lashed out at Vice President Mike Pence for invoking the so-called “Libya model” for giving up a nuclear weapons program.
Read Trump’s letter to Kim
The president cited “tremendous anger and open hostility” from North Korea in saying that it would be “inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”
He left the door open for future negotiations but insisted his so-called “maximum pressure” policy of tough economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure will continue.
The final straw appeared to be a statement reported earlier Thursday in which North Korean official Choe Son Hui warned that her nation was prepared for a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.”
The North Koreans have expressed anger over the Trump administration’s insistence on invoking the “Libyan model” of denuclearization and continued joint U. S.-South Korean military exercises.
“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 said in his letter.
“I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only the dialogue that matters,” Trump said. “Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you.”
He later called it a “tremendous setback” and issued a blunt warning, saying he had spoken to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other military officials.
“Our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know, is ready if necessary,” he said later at a bill signing ceremony.
Trump also said he had spoken to key U. S. allies South Korea and Japan.
“They are not only ready should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any other cost associated by the United States in operations if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us,” he said.
The United States is “more ready than we have ever been before,” he added, promising the country will never compromise its safety and security.
The announcement came days after the U. S. Army tightened a curfew to ensure the main fighting unit on the divided peninsula is ready for action.
A 2nd Infantry Division policy memo published Tuesday said a midnight curfew is now in effect for its soldiers, shortening the previous 1 a.m. curfew.
The memo didn’t mention tensions with North Korea but called it a “readiness recall.” It said only that soldiers are required to be on base, at a residence or inside a hotel room by the new deadline.
“The recall readiness time was moved one hour earlier in order to ensure that the division is consistently and completely in compliance with the U. S. Forces Korea readiness recall policy,” 2ID spokeswoman Lt. Col. Junel Jeffrey told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.
The policy requires 90 percent of 2ID’s available troops to be able to muster within four hours.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has been working hard to bring the two adversaries to the table, called the cancellation “disconcerting and very regrettable” during a late-night meeting with his national security council.
Moon, who raised hopes for diplomacy with his own summit with the North Korean leader last month, urged Trump and Kim to talk directly.
“The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and building a permanent peace on the peninsula is a task we cannot give up or delay,” Moon said, according to his office.
Trump’s critics, meanwhile, seized on the cancellation, saying it’s an example of the president’s inexperience.
“The art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal,” Sen. Bob Menendez, the top-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement.
Trump’s agreement to meet Kim, which came after the president met South Korean envoys who said the North Korean leader was ready to discuss denuclearization, took the international community by surprise.
Many experts warned the two sides would likely clash over the definition of denuclearization, with Washington seeking the dismantlement of the North’s nuclear weapons and Pyongyang seeking a phased approach with rewards including the relaxation of punishing economic sanctions.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled twice to Pyongyang and eventually secured the release of three detained Korean Americans.
Trump thanked the North Korean leader for the release of the detainees. But comments by Vice President Mike Pence and his National Security Adviser John Bolton about Libya underscored the vast differences between the adversaries.
A senior North Korean official took aim against Pence for invoking the “Libya model” in an interview with Fox News on Monday.
Choe Son Hui called Pence a “political dummy,” pointing out that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is far more advanced than the one that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi surrendered in the early 2000s in exchange for sanctions relief.
Gadhafi was later killed at the hands of a mob after being ousted in an uprising supported by NATO airstrikes. North Korea has pointed to his fate as an example of why they need a nuclear arsenal, which the communist state insists is for self-defense.
“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,” Choe said.
North Korea already pulled out of high-level talks with the South at the last minute earlier this month to protest Seoul’s participation in joint Air Force drills with the United States known as Max Thunder, which are due to end Friday.
