‘Perplexing’, ‘the right call’, ‘embarrassing’: how the world viewed Donald Trump cancelling his meeting with Kim Jong-un
International leaders and US politicians have called US President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel talks with Kim Jong-un everything from a great move to a predictable disaster
The announcement by US President Donald Trump that he has called off planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 has been received with, alternately, confusion, horror and admiration both within the US and abroad.
Trump said in an open letter on Thursday that the “tremendous anger and hostility” expressed by North Korea in recent days had caused him to scuttle the talks, which were to have taken place in Singapore. He later said in a statement that their cancellation was “a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world”.
Those sentiments were echoed across the world – though for some the blame didn’t lie solely with Pyongyang.
The international view
South Korean President Moon Jae-in: “I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-US summit will not be held on June 12.”
Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom: “We are trying to figure out what President Trump’s intention is and what its exact meaning is.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May: “We are disappointed that the meeting will no longer go ahead as planned. We need to see an agreement that can bring about the completely verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will continue to work with our partners to this end.”
Konstantin Kosachev, Russian foreign affairs committee chairman: “The rejection by Trump of conducting the American-North Korean summit undoubtedly is a serious blow to peaceful settlement in the region.”