Trump Cancels North Korea Summit, Citing "Open Hostility"
Thursday, May 24, 2018
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A man watches a television screen at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, on May 24, 2018. (Photo: Jung Yeon-Je / AFP / Getty Images)
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Citing what he calls the "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" in Pyongyang's most recent public statement, President Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that was set to take place next month.
"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 wrote in a letter to Kim.
Read the full letter:
Reacting to Trump's letter on Twitter, independent journalist and Korea expert Tim Shorrock noted that the statement on Thursday by North Korea vice-minister of foreign affairs Choe Son Hui -- in which she referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" -- appears to be "what set Trump off."
But, Shorrock added, Trump has no grounds to complain about "open hostility" given "the hatred and military threats spewing from his vice president and national security adviser" John Bolton.
"North Korea always said the US must end its hostile policy for it to negotiate on nukes," Shorrock notes. "But there's no sign of that."
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Jake Johnson
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter: @johnsonjakep.
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