What next, after Donald Trump cancels North Korea summit?

President’s decision risks plunging Korean
peninsula back onto war footing

In Depth

In a letter to Kim released by the White House, Trump said: “I
feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned
meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that
the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the
detriment of the world, will not take place”.

Why did Trump change his mind?

The decision is believed to have been made after a North Korean
foreign affairs official slammed Vice President Mike Pence as a
“political dummy”.

According to CNN, it was the specific targeting of Pence
that irked US officials and “infuriated” Trump and his aides who
“wanted to respond forcefully”.

It was the latest harshly worded statement from Pyongyang amid
an increasingly hostile to-and-fro between North Korea and the US,
which has lowered expectations a summit will actually take
place.

Was the summit ever likely to happen?

Until last week, plans were on course for a historic meeting
between the Trump and Kim in Singapore in June, to the extent that
the US had commemorative coins minted showing the two
leaders embracing.

And there have been genuine steps towards rapprochement between
North Korea, South Korea and the US. The North released three US
citizens it had been holding, and even as the summit was being
cancelled, had begun precursory steps to scale back its nuclear
programme by destroying sections of its main nuclear test site,
under the watchful eye of foreign press.

But North Korea had adopted an increasingly defensive tone
since Kim met with South Korean leader, Moon Jae-in,
earlier this month, stating American demands it unilaterally disarm
and dismantle its nuclear programme while offering little in return
were unfair and one-sided.

So what happens now?

The New York Times noted that the president’s letter “left open
the possibility that the two could meet in the future”, bit his
announcement appeared to catch South Korea, where millions of
people live within immediate range of the North’s nuclear weapons,
off guard.

Pyongyang has yet to respond to the letter, but Reuters says “the chances for a quick
rescheduling appear remote and cancellation of the summit will
renew fears of a return to conflict on the Korean peninsula”.

“Although much of the tone of the letter was regretful and it
contained conciliatory passages,” says The Guardian, “it included a reminder of the
size of the US nuclear arsenal” and perhaps a not-so-veiled threat
from Trump.

Listing a number of possible scenarios, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus asks:
“Will North Korea now resume its long-range ballistic missile
testing? Will the war of words be renewed? Or might there be a slim
chance of some kind of diplomatic process being maintained?”