North Korea ready to talk at any time with Trump

International Desk: North Korea has said it is still willing to talk "at any time in any form" after US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his meeting with Kim Jong-un.

Vice-foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan said Mr Trump's decision was "extremely regrettable".

President Trump blamed the North's "open hostility" for the cancellation.

The summit would have been the first time a sitting US president had met a North Korean leader.

The details of the meeting in Singapore on 12 June were unclear. But talks would have focused on ways of denuclearising the Korean peninsula and reducing tensions.

Just hours before Mr Trump's announcement, North Korea said it carried out its promise to dismantle tunnels at its only nuclear test site.

Mr Trump announced the cancellation in the form of a letter personally addressed to Mr Kim.

A senior administration official in the US later gave further details, saying North Korea had shown "a profound lack of good faith".

There were a series of "broken promises" from Pyongyang, the official told reporters, including when the White House sent the deputy chief of staff to Singapore to meet North Korean diplomats ahead of the summit.

"The North Koreans didn't show up. They simply stood us up."

The official also said President Trump had "dictated every word" of his letter to Kim Jong-un after talking with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Mr Trump said he had been "very much looking forward" to meeting Mr Kim.

"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.

Source: Agencies



risingbd/May 25, 2018/Mukul