It’s a nightmare scenario’: how Trump’s North Korea spectacle fits his pattern
Trump’s rushed talks – and exit – with Pyongyang has only underscored the chaos that has defined his presidency.
The stage was set for what some saw as Donald Trump’s greatest triumph as president: a high-profile summit with Kim Jong-un, in what would have marked the first face-to-face encounter between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
Billed by the Trump administration as unprecedented progress in one of the world’s most troubled hotspots, political observers speculated if the president’s unpredictable style held the key to what eluded those who came before him – a peace deal on the Korean peninsula.
Republicans floated the idea of a Nobel peace prize. The US government even issued an official commemorative coin featuring the likeness of Trump and Kim, facing one another against the backdrop of the two countries’ flags.
And then came the letter.
On Thursday, Trump abruptly canceled the meeting in a brief letter addressed to his North Korean counterpart. In typical Trumpian language, the president lamented “a truly sad moment in history”, his tone vacillating sharply between congenial and aggressively threatening war.
Trump personally dictated each word of the letter, a senior administration official later told reporters, reinforcing the notion of a president unbound as ever to the rules and norms of governance.
Trump’s penchant for bombast has been a staple of his time in the public eye, but perhaps never more so than now as he appears to have shed any shackles put on him by senior aides and adopted a far more personal and involved style of governing.
The spectacle of his rushed talks with Pyongyang, and then swift exit from the table, has only underscored the chaos and inconsistency that has defined his presidency – both domestically and abroad, and from everything from the world stage to protests in sports.
Following in the footsteps of Trump’s decision to rescind the US from the Iran nuclear deal, national security experts warned that the resulting diplomatic whiplash reinforced the perception of a crisis in US leadership on the global stage.
“This fits a pattern,” Joel Rubin, the former deputy assistant secretary of state under Barack Obama, told the Guardian. “He’s sort of floating out there as an independent actor from the traditional way the US government has handled national security.”
“The net result of that is his actions are not linked to the agencies tasked with implementing decisions,” added Rubin, who also served as a career officer in the Bush administration. “It has created a nightmare scenario for planning and preparation.”
Since Trump took office in January 2017, a prevailing question has loomed over his tenure amid the barrage of Twitter outbursts and oftentimes knee-jerk policy announcements: will the erratic president ever be reined in? It is an issue only worsened by a dizzying turnover of staff, especially of those who sought to oppose or control his policies.
The arrival of John Kelly, a retired four-star marine general, as Trump’s chief of staff last Julyoffered some hope for a more disciplined West Wing. But that bubble was burst just weeks later, when Trump equated neo-Nazis and white supremacists behind violent clashes in Charlottesville with counter-protesters on the left.
In the time since, the president has opened war on the FBI and justice department, and taken a series of foreign policy actions consistently at odds with his national security team.
From pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal to moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Trump’s proclamations are frequently without a plan B. The moves have also routinely been accompanied by the kind of confrontational rhetoric that threaten to heighten instability in already tense regions.
Trump’s own negotiations with Kim were preceded by the president vowing to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if Pyongyang carried on with its nuclear provocations.
Kelsey Davenport, the director of Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, said Trump’s decision to cancel the summit “was irresponsible and squandered a chance to reduce the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons”.
It remained unclear how the Trump administration planned to proceed. Mike Pompeo, the newly minted secretary of state who laid the groundwork for the summit, testified before the Senate foreign relations committee on Thursday that the “pressure campaign” of sanctions and diplomatic coercion would continue.
But Trump then added further confusion by suggesting to reporters after the release of his letter that the summit could still be held.
Asked if the cancellation of the meeting escalated the risk of war, the president was characteristically vague.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington
@SabrinaSiddiqui
* The Guardian. Thu 24 May 2018 21.39 BST Last modified on Fri 25 May 2018 00.43 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/24/trump-cancel-north-korea-summit-chaos
North Korea leaves door open for ’desperately necessary’ Trump summit
Regime’s vice foreign minister says meeting cancellation is ‘regrettable’ as South Korean president says he is ‘perplexed’ by US president’s decision
Benjamin Haas in Seoul and Justin McCurry in Tokyo.
North Korea has said it is still willing to hold direct talks between its leader Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, calling the planned summit “desperately necessary” to resolve potential hostilities after the US cancelled the meeting.
“We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the US and resolve issues anytime and in any format,” North Korea’s vice foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan said in a statement. “Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the US.”
North Korea’s response moved to place the blame on the US. It has consistently worked to portray itself as the driver of progress in a relationship that has remained hostile for over six decades. Kim Jong-un has been crafting an image of a responsible statesman against an erratic Trump.
“Internally we have been quietly giving president Trump high marks for making a decision no other American president had the courage to pursue,” Kim Kye-gwan said.
Trump on Thursday abruptly called off the summit, which was scheduled for 12 June in Singapore, citing “tremendous anger and open hostility” in recent North Korean statements. But Pyongyang said Trump’s “unilateral cancellation of the summit was unexpected and very regrettable”.
US officials also complained North Koreans did not show up to preparatory meetings and would not answer calls. During a television appearance, Trump left open the possibility talks could still be held. “It’s possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date. Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right,” he said. “If and when Kim Jong-un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting.”
US allies in Asia were blindsided by the announcement. The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, called an emergency meeting just before midnight local time, saying: “I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-US summit will not be held.”
“Denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed,” Moon said. A photo of the meeting released by the presidential office showed Moon with a deep frown.
North Korea “remains sincere in ... making efforts on denuclearization and peace building”, said Cho Myoung-gyon, the South’s minister in charge of inter-Korean affairs.
Japan’s foreign minister, Taro Kono, said it was “meaningless to hold a summit if it does not bring about progress”, but added he would continue to support the idea of a Trump-Kim meeting at a later date.
“The important thing is not the meeting itself but that there are opportunities to move towards resolving the nuclear and missile issues,” the chief cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters.
John Tierney, executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said: “The first rule of diplomacy is to always consult your allies, yet our key allies in the region were blindsided by the move. President Trump can blame North Korea’s hostile rhetoric for his decision, but the reality is that the Trump administration had no unified diplomatic strategy from the beginning.”
The South vowed to continue dialogue with North Korea on denuclearisation, while foreign ministers from South Korea and the US said they would continue working towards a US-North Korea summit. Mike Pompeo, Washington’s top diplomat, said there was “clear will” to continue dialogue with Pyongyang during his call with his South Korean counterpart, according to Yonhap news agency [1].
Benjamin Haas in Seoul and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
* The Guardian. Fri 25 May 2018 09.33 BST First published on Fri 25 May 2018 02.53 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/north-korea-leaves-door-open-for-desperately-necessary-trump-summit
Kim Jong-un gains stature and gives up little as summit falls apart
Cancellation of the historic talks by Donald Trump leaves North Korean leader unscathed.
Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a planned meeting with Kim Jong-un is a gift to North Korea in many ways, according to some analysts.
Kim has worked for months to craft an image of a senior statesman and peacemaker, hoping to break decades of hostilities with a country North Korea has called its “sworn enemy”. Trump cancelling the summit further reinforced the narrative Kim is willing to talk while the US agitates for regime change.
“The crowning glory of the summit is still important to Kim, but he’s gained a lot of legitimacy and attention in the run up without having to give up any nuclear weapons,” said Euan Graham, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute. “Now North Korea will posture as the injured party and Trump’s timing, cancelling at same time as North Korea was closing its nuclear test site, shows Pyongyang was trying to act in good faith.”
Just hours before the summit was called off, North Korea said it had completely closed its only known nuclear test site, collapsing tunnels used to test weapons in front of a group of about 30 international journalists. The North has also announced a moratorium on any missile tests.
“This has made it hard to sell a return to maximum pressure to South Korea, and 10 times harder to sell to the Chinese,” Graham added.
China accounts for over 90% of the North’s trade and the two share a border stretching 880 miles (1,420km). China has traditionally been resistant to back international sanctions against Pyongyang at the United Nations, but after a nuclear test in September agreed to radically reduce trade.
But with Kim seen to be open to dialogue while Trump appears to be rejecting his overtures, China may quietly permit trade to resume, allowing North Korea to continue to build its economy.
While the past few months of diplomacy have been a boon for Kim, Trump’s cancellation of the summit has damaged South Korean president Moon Jae-in’s standing. He had worked harder than anyone to ensure the US-North Korea summit happened, with much of the initial contact passing through South Korean officials.
The language in Trump’s letter cancelling the meeting seemed to point the finger at Moon for miscommunicating who exactly was pushing for a meeting. The White House also gave no advanced notice to Moon, forcing him to hastily call a midnight national security meeting.
Any daylight between the US and the South will also benefit Kim. North Korea has always sought to drive a wedge between the two allies. There are 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea and the two regularly hold military exercises that infuriate Pyongyang.
“Kim has broken maximum pressure by halting provocations and coordinating with the Chinese,” Vipin Narang, a politics professor who focuses on nuclear proliferation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said before Trump cancelled the summit. “North Korea has worked hard over the past few months to constants appear the magnanimous party in the eyes of the international community.”
After news of the cancellation broke, Narang said on Twitter that North Korea’s measured reaction was “a smart statement from North Korea. Puts ball back squarely in Trump’s court”.
Benjamin Haas in Seoul
@haasbenjamin
* The Guardian, Fri 25 May 2018 07.19 BST Last modified on Fri 25 May 2018 08.25 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/25/kim-jong-un-gains-stature-and-gives-up-little-as-summit-falls-apart
The failed Trump-Kim summit: the story of a trainwreck foretold
Washington and Pyongyang were talking at cross purposes, and the debacle began and ended with gut decisions made by Trump.
The short, turbulent history of the Trump-Kim summit, from its surprise announcement in March to its abrupt cancellation on Thursday, is the chronicle of a trainwreck foretold.
The debacle had been predicted by just about anyone with an experience of negotiating with North Korea, and experts who repeatedly warned that Washington and Pyongyang were talking at cross purposes.
The whole episode began and ended with gut decisions made by Donald Trump with minimal reflection and consultation. It had its origins in a visit to Washington on 8 March by the South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, with a message from Kim Jong-un about his readiness to meet Trump to discuss denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Convinced that it had been his campaign of “maximum pressure” that had forced Kim to the table, Trump insisted on seizing the moment, and asked Chung to make an immediate statement to the press outside the White House.
But it soon became apparent that Trump had no grasp of the North Korean interpretation of what “denuclearisation” meant. For Pyongyang it implies lengthy negotiations in which North Korea would be treated as an equal to the US, as a nuclear weapons power.
Kim had extended the offer of talks only after declaring in January that his regime had successfully developed a credible deterrent, involving thermonuclear warheads and ballistic missiles to carry them. North Korea saw itself negotiating from a position of strength, a military power ready to pivot to economic development.
To Trump it meant unilateral disarmament.
The gap between these perceptions seems to have been papered over by Chung and his boss, President Moon Jae-in, who desperately needed US buy-in for his own peace agenda with the North to have a chance at succeeding. They heaped praise on Trump as an all-powerful and wise world leader destined to make history. Moon artfully suggested that Trump deserved a Nobel prize, and crowds at Trump rallies took up the cry, to the US president’s evident delight.
Between March and May, Trump is reported to have spent little time grappling with the details of how a negotiation might work, focusing instead on the pageantry of the occasion and the staged release of details for the press.
In the vacuum, members of his administration went their own way. His new national security adviser, John Bolton, set out maximalist demands for an immediate surrender of North Korea’s nuclear warheads and related equipment, which were to be shipped out to the US.
It soon became apparent Trump had no grasp of the North Korean interpretation of what denuclearisation meant
The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who met Kim face-to-face on two occasions, alternated between insistence on this all-in-one option and a more phased approach. Trump himself signalled he would be ready to accept the latter, exposing some of the US negotiating strategy, such as it was.
Into this swirl, Bolton casually tossed a diplomatic grenade, telling a television interviewer that the US would use the “Libyan model” to approach North Korean disarmament. He had in mind Muammar Gaddafi’s agreement to dismantle and hand over the rudimentary and fledgling nuclear weapons programme at the end of 2003.
To Pyongyang, mention of the Libyan model served as a reminder that eight years after giving up his programme, Gaddafi was overthrown and murdered. Trump and the vice-president, Mike Pence, deepened that impression by warning Kim he would face the same fate as Gaddafi if he did not make a deal.
The threat drew predictable outrage from North Korea – which Trump presented as the reason for aborting for the summit. But Pompeo told the Senate on Thursday that US officials had also been having difficulty organising summit planning meetings with their North Korean counterparts, who had gone silent in recent days.
“The president didn’t want to fly all the way over there and North Koreans not to be there,” Victor Cha, a former national security council official with extensive experience of negotiations with North Korea, said.
He added that the silence from Pyongyang suggested Washington may not have been alone in its indecision over negotiations. Pyongyang had done the same thing before in the months after an agreement to carry out phased denuclearisation in six-party talks in 2007.
“I am struck by how, when we get close to where it looks like the North Koreans are about to take yes for an answer, they back off,” Cha said. “It forces them to make choices they are not ready to make.”
Cha was nominated by the Trump White House as the US ambassador to Seoul, but then his nomination was withdrawn when he opposed the use of bellicose language towards North Korea. He said the cancellation of the summit “might not be an entirely bad thing if it leads to negotiations on a lower level” in an effort to close the gap over denuclearisation.
Whether that is the next step, or a return to a tense military standoff, will depend a lot on how Pyongyang responds to Trump’s surprise move.
Julian Borger world affairs editor
* The Guardian, Thu 24 May 2018 19.19 BST Last modified on Fri 25 May 2018 07.36 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/24/trump-kim-north-korea-summit-trainwreck-foretold
The Guardian view on the North Korea summit: a crisis foretold
Donald Trump’s meeting was all about grabbing plaudits for his over-sized ego rather than a serious effort to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula.
The commemorative summit coin has just been minted, but the peace efforts are already spent. Donald Trump’s decision to call off a June meeting with Kim Jong-un appears as hastily made and ill-considered as his decision to hold it. Predictably, it seems to have come without warning to – never mind consultation with – US ally South Korea, which had brought the parties together. Seasoned North Korea-watchers had warned the meeting might never happen, since the chasm between the sides, particularly over what denuclearisation means, was too vast to cross quickly or easily. The US’s lack of preparation, coordination or clarity on goals and how to approach them made prospects of progress still poorer.
In contrast, Mr Trump seemed to believe the Nobel peace prize was one cosy chat away. Asked whether he deserved it, he modestly replied that “everyone thinks so, but I would never say it,” adding that he was focusing on getting talks “finished”. Well, they are finished now. The cancellation may have been partially pre-emptive, since the administration says North Korea had not responded to logistical queries in recent days. Mr Trump held the North responsible, thanks to the “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a statement that said it was down to the US whether the countries met in a meeting room or at a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown” and attacked Mike Pence, the vice-president. There are already attempts to blame China, suggesting Xi Jinping has encouraged Mr Kim to take a harsher stance. But in truth responsibility lies with Mr Trump and those around him. North Korea is a loathsome regime, but it has been consistent. Not so the US.
Pyongyang’s toughened rhetoric was sparked by national security adviser John Bolton and Mr Pence, who repeatedly raised the spectre of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi and regime change following the abandonment of a nuclear programme. Incoherence is nothing new from this administration, but these remarks appeared calculated to provoke. Despite threatening fire and fury again (“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”), Mr Trump tried to leave the door open for future talks in bizarrely amiable tones: “I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between us … please do not hesitate to write and call.”
But calling off the summit will make it harder than ever to bridge the gulf – as will doing so hours after the North blew up tunnels at a nuclear test site, albeit that that was a symbolic not substantial measure. What has been lost? Less than Mr Trump claims. The Singapore meeting was welcome because it was better than military action. But it handed North Koreans an easy victory, granting them status without any concessions on their part. It was likely neither to clear the way for a deal, nor to close one – and it could well have gone badly awry, with even worse results. The real problem is not that the summit is off, but that it was ever scheduled with so little thought and care.
The Guardian , Editorial
* The Guardian, Thu 24 May 2018 18.29 BST Last modified on Thu 24 May 2018 22.00 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/24/the-guardian-view-on-the-north-korea-summit-a-crisis-foretold
On North Korea, Trump should do his homework next time
It turns out that Trump’s instinct for this Korean stuff was not quite as good as he thought.
Donald Trump finds himself in a bit of a pickle. He’s not alone, of course. Somehow he’s pickled himself inside a full jar of gullible allies, pandering friends, desperate boosters, and much of Fox News. Still, it’s more than a little awkward to cancel the historic-summit-that-never-was after promising so much from his unconsummated talks with the North Koreans.
Even for an Olympic-sized blowhard, this is a little tricky, so you’ll have to forgive the split personality tone of his letter to the man he now calls “Chairman”. If only Kim Jong-un had behaved himself, he could have got his hands on one of those special White House coins that called him “Supreme Leader”.
But no. All he got was a lousy letter in which careful readers could pick up, Derrida-style, the elusive meaning of something permanently deferred. Like peace talks.
“We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea,” Trump started innocently enough, “but that to us is totally irrelevant.” Quite a brilliant move, that one. Such a formal way to give someone a Glaswegian kiss.
“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,” Trump said, about a meeting announced a little more than two months ago. To paraphrase Michelle Obama, when the North Koreans go low, Trump gets high.
“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.”
It’s safe to say this is a first in international diplomacy: when world leaders compare the size of their nuclear stockpiles, as a measure of their manly potency, we all should start praying to God.
You might be asking yourself how the commander-in-chief of the world’s greatest military and diplomatic corps might have ended up here. You might even be ready to blame his advisers for failing him so badly.
But you only need to go back to the presidential election to understand that his most important adviser stares back at him from the mirror in his bathroom every morning.
“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” he told MSNBC, when asked who his foreign policy advisers were. He said he was talking to a lot of people, but they weren’t really important. “My primary consultant is myself and I have a good instinct for this stuff.”
It turns out that his instinct for this Korean stuff was not quite as good as he thought, when he surprised the South Koreans with a snap acceptance of their half-suggestion of some direct talks. It also turns out that his three predecessors as president, along with a small army of foreign policy wonks, could have told his very good brain about his hopeless notion that the North Koreans would surrender all their nuclear weapons and research in exchange for nothing.
This is the genius entrepreneur who fooled a whole nation into believing he was a businessman in The Apprentice
But all those sneering globalists can stop their gloating. Their predictions of failure reveal their true colors: they say they like diplomacy, but they can’t bring themselves to like Trump’s diplomacy. That’s the kind of diplomacy that sounds good on TV and Twitter but never actually takes place.
They don’t understand how this is all part of a masterly negotiating strategy by the man who so brilliantly put his name on a book called The Art of the Deal, which was ghost-written for him. This is the genius entrepreneur who fooled a whole nation into believing he was a businessman in The Apprentice. You think he can’t fool little old North Korea and its little old rocket man?
The truth is that rogue nations should follow the Russia and Saudi model for dealing with Trump, not the Libya model. Forget all those fancy summits and peace deals with large rooms full of diplomats. Try investing in a Trump Tower in Tehran or Pyongyang, or somewhere neutral like Mumbai or Singapore. Or if that’s too obvious, perhaps just a large consulting agreement with Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen.
As for Trump’s friends, allies and boosters, there’s another lesson to be learned: don’t get so hot and sweaty in your eagerness to express your true love for the boss. Just because he surprised the world by winning the electoral college while losing the popular vote, doesn’t mean he’s going to surprise the world with peace talks.
Should Donald Trump get the Nobel peace prize: ‘Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.’
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Should Donald Trump get the Nobel peace prize: ‘Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.’ Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Yes, that means you, Nigel Farage, who said he would start a petition to get Trump the Nobel peace prize for his sterling work on North Korea. Nigel isn’t exactly strong on the facts, as he amply demonstrated through the Brexit campaign. You’d think he’d understand that his sycophancy isn’t working, after he failed to snag that US ambassador’s job he wanted, despite Trump’s support.
It also means you, Pete Hegseth of Fox News, a beloved figure on Trump’s TV, and possibly his third or fourth choice to run the department of veterans affairs. It was only a couple of days ago that Pete predicted Trump could normalize Kim through these peace talks because he “probably doesn’t love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long”.
Who really does, Pete? In the meantime, here’s a pro tip: avoid public use of the word “normalize” when you’re talking about Trump.
It sadly also means you, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, who deflected suggestions that he should win the Nobel peace prize by saying there was a better candidate. “President Trump should win the Nobel peace prize,” he said. “The only thing we need is peace.”
Peace is not what Trump has in mind right now. He already spoke to the Pentagon about being “ready if necessary” about war in the region. He also revealed he talked to South Korea and Japan about paying for that war, which must have been a reassuring chat for both countries. “They are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated by the United States in operations, if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room yesterday. Seriously, a Trump Tower or two in Seoul and Tokyo will be much cheaper for everyone.
But you know who was smart enough not to play the Nobel peace prize game, while still playing it all along? You guessed it. “Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it,” he told reporters who asked him about whether he deserved the peace prize, just two long weeks ago.
You know what everyone else is also thinking? You should probably do your homework before your next round of diplomacy.
Richard Wolffe
@richardwolffedc
Richard Wolffe is a Guardian US columnist
* The Guardian, Thu 24 May 2018 22.34 BST Last modified on Thu 24 May 2018 22.44 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/24/north-korea-trump-homework
Moon Jae-in ’perplexed’ as Trump cancels summit with Kim
South Korean leader regrets cancellation of historic summit, continues to hope for direct talks between Trump and Kim.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in expressed deep regret over US President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a June 12 summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.
At an emergency meeting on Thursday, Moon told his top security officials he was “very perplexed” and found it “very regrettable that the North Korea-US summit will not be held on June 12”, according to Seoul’s presidential office.
Moon urged “more direct and close dialogue” between Trump and Kim, adding denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula should not be delayed by the decision to call off the summit.
Trump blamed “anger” and “hostility” from North Korea when he cancelled the widely anticipated meeting, which was aimed at ridding Pyonyang of its nuclear weapons.
The decision came a day after North Korea attacked US Vice President Mike Pence as “ignorant and stupid”.
Singapore, which was to host the historic summit, said it also “regrets” the cancellation.
In a Twitter post, the country’s foreign ministry said it hoped “efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue”.
Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, said he was “profoundly worried” over Trump’s decision.
“I am deeply concerned by the cancellation of the planned meeting in Singapore between the president of the United States and the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Guterres said at the University of Geneva on Thursday.
He urged the parties to demonstrate “nerves of steel so that we can ... [obtain] an objective we all share: the verifiable and peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
The secretary-general’s remarks came at a ceremony to present the UN’s new agenda on disarmament.
He said the events of the day show “the importance of disarmament”, adding 15,000 nuclear weapons remain in stockpiles around the world.
The United Kingdom also expressed disappointment with Trump’s decision, with a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May calling for an agreement to “bring about the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
Britain will continue to work with its partners to that end, the spokeswoman added.
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said he hoped Trump’s move “was just a glitch in a process that should be continued”.
He was speaking in Moscow alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also said he hopes dialogue can be resumed between the US and North Korea.
“We had counted on that a significant step towards a deescalation on the Korean peninsula would be taken and a start made on the denuclearisation,” Putin said at the joint press conference.
He added: “We hope that a dialogue will be resumed, continued and the meeting take place.”
AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
* 24 May 2018:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/moon-jae-perplexed-trump-cancels-summit-kim-180524152916158.html