Kim summit could still happen: Trump

Washington/Seoul, May 25 

US President Donald Trump welcomed North Korea’s statement on Friday that it was still open to talks with the United States after Trump called off a summit with leader Kim Jong Un, saying he still held out hopes for peace.

“Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea,” Trump wrote. “We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!” Trump said on Twitter.

Trump pulled out of what would have been the first meeting between a serving US President and a North Korean leader, citing North Korea’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a letter to Kim on Thursday.

His decision came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the June 12 summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by American officials.

North Korean vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said that North Korea’s recent criticisms of certain US officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed” the urgent necessity” for the summit.

“His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it,” Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement on state media.

He added that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington “regardless of ways, at any time.” North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. — Reuters

 ‘Trump formula’ gone haywire 

• On Thursday Trump pulled out of talks citing North Korea’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a letter to Kim Jong Un.
• Earlier North Korea had criticised suggestions by Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton that it could share the fate of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal.