Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled out of the much-anticipated summit with Kim Jong Un scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.


In a testy letter, Trump cancelled the the summit, an action he called "detrimental for the world."

Trump wrote: " "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. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. "

Trump cited N Korea's hostile response towards CIA director Mike Pompeo as the main reason behind the cancellation.

Trump writes: "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. There fore please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both the parties but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. "

The letter also had a coveted warning for North Korea as Trump went on to write: "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."

 

The Trump Administration was seriously preparing for the success of the June 12 Summit meeting with North Korea, but there was not much response from Pyongyang, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo said that North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from American officials to discuss logistics for Singapore Summit, which now has been cancelled.

"I don't believe in that sense that we're in a position to believe that there could be a successful outcome. I think that's what the president communicated pretty clearly in his letter," Pompeo told lawmakers responding to a question after President Donald Trump in a letter to Kim announced to cancel the June 12 Singapore summit with him.

"I can add to that. Over the past many days, we have endeavoured to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed, which was to put teams, preparation teams together to begin to work to prepare for the summit and we have received no response to our inquiries from them," Pompeo said.

He refuted the notion that the US was not ready for the summit.

In the last several weeks, Pompeo has met Kim twice. He travelled to Pyongyang quietly as a CIA Director and then as the Secretary of State early this month. In all, Pompeo met Kim for over three hours, during which he stressed the need of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

During his second visit, he was able to secure the release of three American prisoners in North Korea.

Trump in his letter did not forget to thank Kim for the release of the three US hostage. He then added that whenever Kim changed his mind on the Summit, he should let Trump know.

(With inputs from PTI)