While every political junkie has been mentally preparing for the Singapore summit between the U.S., South Korea and North Korea that was allegedly slated for June 12, according to CBS News, there’s enough drama between the U.S. and North Korea to make the summit pre-gaming a Twitter-sanctioned spectator sport. Before we’ve had our fourth second cup of coffee, an official from North Korea apparently called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy” — and President Donald Trump might have canceled the summit because of this ongoing dispute.
According to CNN, prior to Pence’s new unsavory nickname, Pence made some questionable comments about a vice-minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry Choe Son Hui. During an interview with Fox News, Pence allegedly referenced Hui as “unbridled and impudent.” However, this comment didn’t inspire Choe to call Pence a “political dummy.”
The Washington Post notes that Choe made these comments only after Pence responded to John Bolton, U.S. National Security Adviser, who suggested that negotiations between Libya and North Korea could help amend the nuclear weapons dispute. Shortly after Bolton’s remarks about Libya and North Korea on Monday, Pence told Fox News, “As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal.” Nevertheless, the comparison between Libya and North Korea may have sparked Choe to coin the term “political dummy.”
The New York Times reports that both Bolton’s and Pence’s continual references to Libya’s disarmament could be offensive to North Koreans. After Libya gave up the country’s nuclear weapons programs in 2003, it has a disastrous impact on the country’s economy.
In response to Pence’s Libya-related comments, Choe told CNN, “As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president.” Choe also called Pence a “political dummy” specifically for comparing Libya to North Korea (because it appears to imply that North Korea, and its leader, will follow the same fate as Libya’s post-nuclear weapons model).
Despite the two-side banter between U.S. and North Korean officials, Choe basically told CNN that the fate of the impending summit would be “dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.”
Apparently, the United States has officially made a decision of their own —with a letter from Trump dropping early Thursday morning about his decision to cancel the summit.
Breaking: Trump issues letter to Kim Jong Un cancelling their summit. pic.twitter.com/r7UdVj0Pcn
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 24, 2018
“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,” Trump wrote in his official cancellation letter to Kim Jong Un. With the news of the now-canceled summit, it’s uncertain how the political dynamics between the Koreas and the U.S. will divulge.