Earlier this evening, Donald Trump announced to the world that the summit he would be attending with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, has been cancelled due to increased anger and intimidation expressed by the North Korean dictator.
When it was announced earlier this year that Trump and Kim were planning on a meeting to discuss the removal of the nuclear test sites in North Korea, the world stood still, filled with a mixture of many emotions. The prospect of two of the most notorious leaders in world history negotiating for disarmament, while still slightly unsettling, created the potential for a huge step towards diplomatic peace between the two nations and the eradication of nuclear weapons in the highly unpredictable North Korean country. Considering it was just last year that Trump and Kim openly hurled insults at each other, Trump’s most recent announcement marks another spiral of events between the relationship of the two leaders.
In his announcement, Trump did mention that although the news came as a huge setback in the diplomatic relations, another meeting was still possible, warning that Kim not to commit “foolish” acts. Trump was adamant that the responses from North Korea were not sufficient in the preparing the historic summit, which would have marked the first time that a US president had a sitting with a North Korean leader. Jonathan Marcus, a diplomatic correspondent at the British Broadcasting Network (BBC), has analysed what the future holds now that North Korean nuclear disarmament will not be achieved in the near future, as the announcement has inevitably raised questions whether North Korea will continue the development of their inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and finally whether the possibility or re-connecting diplomatic ties could ever be achieved.
“I was very much looking forward to being there with you. 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.
Trumps statements are allegedly a response to a number recent statements made in letters to the White House, which have caused doubts to materialise as to the degree of mutual assurance. Other comments included in the letter, according to Trump, also constituted as direct attacks towards his Government.
Furthermore, previously this week, Trump’s vice-president, Mike Pence, was quoted saying North Korea could potentially end up like Libya. Pence’s comments were soon met with a dismissive reply from North Korean official, Choe Son-hui, who labelled them as “stupid”.
It is almost as if the return to a very tense relationship between the two nations has a sense of inevitability, with each Leader often associated as being fairly unpredictable. However, one thing that we can be certain of is that Trump’s comments earlier this year stating that he believed he was the only man in the world who would be able to denuclearise North Korea, will require a re-evaluation of his tactics if he is to fulfil them and wants further achieve full North Korean denuclearisation. All we can hope for, as spectators of all the hostility, is that the indifferences do not escalate, with the potential to cause frighting consequences. However, we hope that this does not mark the cutting of all ties – finding a solution to the problem is imperative, and we must trust the fact that the threat of civilian casualties will eventually prevail.
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