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Donald Trump cancels peace summit with Kim Jong Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump (REUTERS/KCNA)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump (REUTERS/KCNA)

President Donald Trump has cancelled his proposed peace summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

In a letter to the North Korean leader, Trump wrote: ‘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.’

He added: ‘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’s cancellation of next month’s summit comes after a period of uncertainty that left the likelihood of the talks up in the air.

Earlier today, Pyongyang threatened a ‘nuclear-to-nuclear showdown’ with America if the countries chose to cancel the summit.

‘Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision…of the US’, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui starkly warned.

‘We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us.’

A medal released to mark peace talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un
A medal released to mark peace talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un

Her comments came only hours before North Korea went through with plans to destroy its only known nuclear testing site with a series of explosions over several hours.

The blasts at the site, deep in the mountains of the North’s sparsely populated north east, were centred on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.

But Foreign Minister Choe also described Mike Pence as ‘ignorant and stupid’ after he claimed that North Korea could end up like Libya – where gradual denuclearisation eventually ended in Colonel Gaddafi being overthrown by US backed forces.

Earlier this week, President Trump dropped his strong hint that the talks could be cancelled.

‘We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens’, he said.

‘There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting.’

But while the meeting is officially off, Trump also struck a note of possibility – offering the chance of a future meeting.

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‘If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write’, he wrote.