문 대통령 방미 48시간도 안 돼 북미회담 취소... 청와대 당혹 "정상간 대화로 해결 기대"
As for South Korea... President Moon Jae-in has expressed his regret that the summit won't be held as scheduled.
But he also said that the task of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and creating a lasting peace... cannot be abandoned or delayed.
Our Blue House correspondent Moon Connyoung reports. "Baffled and very regretful" were the immediate words from South Korean President Moon Jae-in in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of the planned meeting with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore that had been set for June 12th.
South Korea's presidential Blue House said it had not received any advance notice and was caught off guard Thursday night by the cancellation.
In a statement released following an hour long emergency meeting of his National Security Council at midnight, the South Korean president urged both North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump to resolve the issue through direct dialogue.
He said, "The sensitivity and difficulty of such diplomatic issues call for direct and more close dialogue by the leaders. The current way of communication just will not work."
Mr. Trump's cancellation of the Singapore summit comes within 48 hours of Mr. Moon's visit to the White House on Tuesday to solely convince the U.S. president that meeting with North Korea's Kim was still worth it.
How and whether this will affect future Seoul, Washington relations, Seoul, Pyongyang ties, and even Pyongyang, Washington relations, we'll have to wait and see.
Moon Connyoung, Arirang News.
