This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
The U.S. is “talking to” North Korea, President Trump said Friday, this after he cancelled the upcoming June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un.
The Latest: President Trump says the U.S. is “talking to” North Korea after he canceled a planned summit with leader Kim Jong Un. Trump told reporters that “everybody plays games.” https://t.co/35NyJaCeWG
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 25, 2018
North Korea had issued a statement Thursday night that it was willing to meet “at any time” after Trump nixed the Singapore summit.
BREAKING: Trump: US now `talking to’ North Korea after canceling summit, says `everybody plays games’ .
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 25, 2018
“Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell,” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2018
“Everybody plays games,” Trump told reporters Friday.
North Korea on Thursday issued a statement and said it still wanted to resolve issues with the United States, the state-run news agency KCNA reported.
On Thursday, Trump canceled the upcoming summit in Singapore with Kim Jong Un, and the White House issued a letter to North Korea, which read:
Dear Mr. Chairman:
We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. l was very much looking forward to being there with you. 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. Therefore, 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. 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.
I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.
If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.
Sincerely yours,
Donald J. Trump
President of the United States of America
North Korea on Wednesday had again threatened to cancel the upcoming June 12 summit in Singapore with President Trump and Kim Jong Un if the United States keeps up “evil acts.”
Later on Thursday, Trump said the U.S. military is “ready if necessary” and “greatly enhanced,” should it need to be called into action against North Korea.
“We are more ready than we ever have been before,” Trump said, saying he spoke to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Trump said cancelling the summit was a “great setback for the world,” and he warned Kim Jong Un from taking “foolish or reckless action.”
However, it’s “possible” the summit could take place after June 12 or later on, Trump also said.
President Trump earlier this week said the U.S.-North Korea summit could end up taking place later than expected.
There’s a “substantial chance” the summit won’t happen in June, the President had said, and that it “could happen later.”
“Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right,” Trump added.
Also on Thursday, North Korea claimed it had dismantled and destroyed its only known nuclear testing site, which was witnessed by international journalists, including Americans.
Trump had met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday to discuss the summit.
“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later,” Trump had said of the summit, while hosting Moon.
North Korea last week first threatened to cancel the much-anticipated summit with the United States, after it had cancelled high-level meetings with South Korea, because South Korea and the U.S. conducted military exercises. North Korea views such military drills as practice for invasion of its country.
South Korea asked not to participate in the military drills.
The U.S. later 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 U.S.-North Korea summit.
The Trump Administration and military officials had said the military exercises were going to proceed as planned.
This all came just days after North Korea released three American detainees to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on his second visit to the isolated regime in weeks, and after President Trump first announced that the highly anticipated summit with Kim Jong Un would be held in Singapore on June 12.
