North Korea says they still want to meet with President Trump.
Thursday morning President Trump canceled the planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, blaming “tremendous anger and open hostility” by Pyongyang — a decision North Korea called “regrettable” while still holding out hope for “peace and stability.”
In a letter to Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Trump pointed to America’s vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any “foolish or reckless acts.”
The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later, “I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what’s right.” Trump said later that the US wanted to keep a “maximum pressure campaign” of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea. But he added that the summit could still happen at some point.
I have decided to terminate the planned Summit in Singapore on June 12th. While many things can happen and a great opportunity lies ahead potentially, I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world… pic.twitter.com/jT0GfxT0Lc
North Korea issued a statement Friday saying it is still “willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities” to reconsider talks “at any time, at any format.”
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump’s decision “unexpected” and “very regrettable,” and said the cancellation of the talks shows “how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties.”
Kim insisted North Korea’s “objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged.”
President Trump has said since the plans began for a summit that if he didn’t like where the negotiations were going he would walk away. The rhetoric has reached a fever pitch this week with Senior North Korean official Choe Son-hui saying the North would not “beg” for dialogue and warned of a “nuclear showdown” if diplomacy failed. Choe also said US Vice President Mike Pence was a stupid idiot.
That was enough for President Trump this morning and he walked away. Now it is time for North Korea to beg to come back to the negotiating table.