Donald Trump Cancels Kim Jong Un Meeting, Makes Veiled Threat About Using 'Massive and Powerful' Nuclear Weapons

In a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump called off a summit that had been scheduled to discuss the rogue regime's nuclear weapons program and issued some strongly worded threats.

"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 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," Trump wrote in the letter.

"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

The letter came in response to some harsh words by North Korean officials, who had said the U.S. demand that Pyongyang give up all of its nuclear weapons is unreasonable. On Thursday, North Korean officials also criticized Vice President Mike Pence.

"U.S. Vice-President Pence has made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya, military option for North Korea never came off the table, the U.S. needs complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization, and so on," Choe Son-hui, a North Korean vice foreign minister, said Thursday before Trump issued his letter. "As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice-president."

Some experts said that it is unsurprising that the meeting was canceled given the largely divergent views on how to seek peace on the Korean peninsula. But the letter does not destroy all hope that diplomacy could be pursued in the future.

"It's clear that the Trump administration and Pyongyang had very different expectations about what might come out of a summit. North Korea has no intention of giving up its nuclear arsenal overnight, and wanted to portray itself as coming into the negotiating process from a position of strength, rather than as a party succumbing to threats and pressure," Daniel Wertz, associate director of the National Committee on North Korea, told Newsweek.

"Still, depending on how North Korea reacts to President Trump's statement, a more structured and sustained negotiating process may still be possible, starting with lower-level talks to find ways to reduce the threat of North Korea's nuclear arsenal, and working toward the ultimate goal of denuclearization," Wertz continued.