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North Korea has insisted it remains interested in a summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un despite the US president’s cancellation of the June 12 meeting, saying it was open to “resolving problems” between the two countries “at any time”.
Hours after the US president pulled out of a scheduled Singapore summit with Mr Kim, a senior North Korean official said the country was still willing to meet Mr Trump and was open to resolving tensions with Washington following Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“We had set in high regards President Trump’s efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic North Korea-US summit,” said Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, in a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
“We tell the United States once more that we are open to resolving problems at any time in any way,” he said.
On Thursday, the White House released a letter from Mr Trump to Mr Kim cancelling the proposed meeting due to the “tremendous anger and open hostility” that Pyongyang has directed at Washington.
The letter appeared to refer to comments made earlier in the day by Choe Son Hui, another North Korean vice-minister, who personally criticised US vice-president Mike Pence for “stupid” remarks about the denuclearisation process.
Diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang had been deteriorating since John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, suggested Libya’s nuclear disarmament should be a model for North Korea.
Pyongyang — which has criticised the Libya process for paving the way for the western-backed overthrow and murder of Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi — called Mr Bolton’s suggestion “sinister”.
For its part, Washington has thrown into doubt Pyongyang’s sincerity for talks, pointing to a meeting in Singapore where Joe Hagin, the deputy White House chief of staff, was stood up by his North Korean counterparts.
Mr Trump acknowledged the summit’s cancellation was a “setback”, adding that the US military was “ready if necessary” in comments that suggest tensions could again begin to rise after months of detente.
The abandonment of the Singapore meeting marked a diplomatic and personal failure for a US president who had staked his long-touted reputation for dealmaking on the summit with Mr Kim.
But on Friday, hours after the summit was cancelled, North Korea attempted to keep relations on track with the conciliatory statement from Kim Kye Gwan.
“Our goal and will to do everything for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and mankind remains unchanged, and we are always willing to give time and opportunity to the US side with a big and open mind,” he said.
“We even inwardly hoped that what is called ‘Trump formula’ would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue,” he added.
South Korea also scrambled to keep dialogue going with a suggestion that the US and North Korea communicate directly.
“The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed,” said South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who for months has been acting as an intermediary between the two adversaries.
South Korean officials added that the cancellation of the summit in Singapore would not prevent Seoul from implementing the Panmunjom Declaration — an agreement signed last month between Mr Moon and Kim Jong Un to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.
The failure of the Singapore summit will be seen as a blow to the South Korean leader and his presidential agenda.
Following the cancellation of the summit and a subsequent phone call with his South Korean counterpart, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Seoul and Washington would continue to try to “create conditions” for talks with Pyongyang, according to the South Korean foreign ministry.
Pyongyang will take heart from a comment made on Friday by General Vincent Brooks, head of US Forces Korea, who said the chance for rapprochement had not been lost.
“The opportunity is not lost,” he said. “It is just delayed. Don’t worry about what happened . . . because it may have been too early to celebrate, it is also too early to quit,” Gen Brooks told an audience in Seoul, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
