24 May 2018
Trump cancels Kim summit amid North Korea 'hostility'
By BBC
He said his decision was because of "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent North Korean statement.
The summit aimed at ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons and would have been the first time a sitting US president met a North Korean leader.
But both sides have recently cast doubt on whether the talks would happen.
Mr Trump's announcement came just hours after North Korea said it had dismantled tunnels at its only nuclear test site in a move witnessed by foreign reporters.
The Trump administration insists that North Korea was not responding sufficiently in the summit preparations, raising doubts that the meeting would be able to achieve a positive outcome.
The big question is what happens now?
Prior to the thaw in relations between North and South Korea that began the process that led to the summit date, wild rhetoric was being exchanged between Pyongyang and Washington raising serious fears of a renewed conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Will North Korea now resume its long-range ballistic missile testing? Will the war of words be renewed? Or might there be a slim chance of some kind of diplomatic process being maintained?
Mr Trump said he had been looking forward to the now-cancelled summit in Singapore on 12 June.
"I 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 the long-planned meeting," Mr Trump said in a letter to Mr Kim.
"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," he added.
But he called the meeting a "missed opportunity", saying "someday, I look very much forward to meeting you".
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