WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump decided to break off a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after Pyongyang broke a series of promises and cut off direct communication with the United States, a senior White House official said on Thursday. In a letter to Kim released by the White House, Trump said he decided to cancel the meeting “based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement.”

It came hours after a North Korean official, Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Choe Son Hui, called Vice President Pence’s recent remarks comparing the reclusive nation with Libya as “ignorant” and “stupid,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The U.S. president called the cancellation a "tremendous setback" for peace but added it would have been inappropriate to hold the meeting because of what he described as "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent North Korean statement.
U.S. President Donald Trump cancels the scheduled summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by North Korea. Trump states that a summit can still happen, but warns that the military is ready if needed.