The U.S.-North Korea summit could end up taking place later than expected, as President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it “could happen later.”
There’s a “substantial chance” the summit won’t happen in June, Trump said, according to various reports.
.@realDonaldTrump says there’s a substantial chance the summit with North Korea will not happen in June pic.twitter.com/ETDzBhfKb9
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) May 22, 2018
Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday to discuss the summit, which has been somewhat up in the air after North Korea last week threatened to cancel it.
“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later,” Trump said of the summit, while hosting Moon.
#BREAKING Speaking to reporters, President #Trump suggests that his summit with Kim Jung Un “could happen later.”
— Shlomo Schorr (@OneJerseySchorr) May 22, 2018
The President said the summit “may not work out for June 12,” which could suggest a potential delay, the Associated Press reported.
Trump casting new doubts on North Korea summit: (via pool)
“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later.”
“You never know about deals… I’ve made a lot of deals. You never really know.”
“It may not work out for June 12.”— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 22, 2018
It could also mean the summit could be canceled without being immediately rescheduled.
BREAKING: Trump says Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un `may not work out for June 12,’ suggests potential delay.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 22, 2018
The Trump-Kim summit is technically slated for June 12 in Singapore.
North Korea last week threatened to cancel the much-anticipated summit with the United States, and it already cancelled high-level meetings with South Korea, because South Korea and the U.S. conducted military exercises, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. North Korea views such military drills as practice for invasion of its country.
South Korea asked not to participate in the military drills, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, adding that the U.S. has not commented publicly on South Korea’s decision at this time.
The U.S. cancelled a planned military exercise with B-52 bombers and South Korean planes last week over South Korea’s worries that the exercise could jeopardize the upcoming summit with President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal.
The Trump Administration and military officials had said the military exercises were going to proceed as planned.
South Korean news agency Yonhap had reported that the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the Max Thunder drills between the U.S. and South Korean air forces “are a rehearsal for invasion of the North and a provocation amid warming inter-Korean ties.”
North Korean state media KCNA had released the following statement:
“This exercise targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula. The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.”
North Korean state media KCNA recently reported on a press release from the North Korean regime that officials have scheduled a ceremony to dismantle the country’s nuclear site on May 23, and they are inviting international press to attend in a rare opening up of the regime unlike the world has ever seen before.
This development comes days after North Korea released three American detainees to Secretary of State Pompeo on his second visit to the isolated regime in weeks, and President Trump announcing that the highly anticipated summit with Kim Jong Un will be held in Singapore on June 12.
