Trump dictated ‘every word’ of letter canceling North Korea summit

by Jordan Fabian - 05/24/18 3:52 PM ET

The White House offered new details Thursday on President Trump’s decision to cancel a planned June 12 summit with North Korea, saying he did so after a U.S. team was stood up by the North Koreans and that the letter announcing the decision to leader Kim Jong Un was 100 percent Trump.

“The president dictated every word of the letter himself,” a senior White House official said.

{mosads}

The letter cited Kim’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” toward the United States in explaining why the meeting was being scrapped.

“I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump wrote in the letter released by the White House.

The U.S. and North Korea had agreed to hold a meeting to set up the summit in Singapore last week, the White House official said.

But when the U.S. sent a deputy chief of staff and other advance team personnel to Singapore for that meeting, the North Koreas never showed up.

“They simply stood us up,” the official said.

The senior White House official also cast doubt on whether North Korea truly destroyed its nuclear test site, saying international inspectors were not allowed to attend

“We certainly hope that’s the case, but we really don’t know.”

“Secretary Pompeo and the South Korean government were promised by the North Koreans that international experts and officials would be invited to witness and verify today’s demolition,” the official said, but that promise was “broken.”

North Korea’s statement calling Vice President Pence a “political dummy” and threatening the U.S. appeared to be a breaking point for Trump. The president first saw the comments last night and “he took it in stride, he slept on it,” according to the official.

In the morning, Trump met with his national security team, including Pence, chief of staff John Kelly and Pompeo, and made his decision to call off the talks.

The official said it was “hard to miss” the implicit threat of nuclear war in North Korea’s statement, which threatened to “make the U.S. taste an appalling tragedy.”

“The president sought to remind North Korea of the real balance of power here,” the official added.

In the letter, Trump said North Korea was taking a step backward with actions that forced his hand.

“I believe this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and, indeed, a setback for the world,” Trump wrote in the letter.

But he also offered a warning to Pyongyang in his note, which was alternately bellicose and complimentary.

Trump said the United States nuclear weapons are “so massive and so powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

He then thanked Kim for the release of three prisoners earlier this month that had appeared to signal the talks were on course.

“Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you,” Trump wrote. “If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.”

Tags Donald Trump John Kelly North Korea