North Korea says it is willing to talk to the US 'at any time'

US President Donald Trump, a day after his cancellation of a high-stakes summit with North Korea, said yesterday that the meeting with Kim Jong Un could still go ahead.

“We are going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House, after welcoming Pyongyang’s latest statement on the talks as “very good news.”

“It could even be the 12th,” he said in a reference to the original June 12 date set for the meeting in Singapore.

“WARM AND PRODUCTIVE”

“We are talking to them now,” Trump said of the North Koreans. “They very much want to do it. We would like to do it. We will see what happens.”

North Korea, responding to Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the meeting over “hostility” from Pyongyang, said yesterday that it is willing to talk to the US “at any time.”

Trump welcomed the statement as “warm and productive.”

“We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!” the US president said in a tweet. In a letter to Kim, Trump said on Thursday he would not go ahead with the summit in Singapore, following what the White House called a “trail of broken promises” by the North.

Trump blamed “open hostility” from Kim’s regime for his decision to call off the talks, and warned North Korea against committing any “foolish or reckless acts.”

But Pyongyang’s reaction to the sudden U-turn has so far been conciliatory.

First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump’s decision “unexpected” and “regrettable.” But he left the door open for talks, saying officials were willing “to sit face-to-face at any time.”

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the meeting, North Korea declared it had “completely” dismantled its nuclear test site in the country’s far northeast, in a carefully choreographed goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt as threats were traded by both sides.

The US summit cancellation blindsided treaty ally South Korea, which until now had brokered a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang, with President Moon Jae-in calling the move “shocking and very regrettable.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said however he respected and supported the US president’s move.

China, Pyongyang’s sole major ally, urged the two foes to “show goodwill,” while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the parties to keep talking, as did host Singapore, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held out hope the talks would eventually take place.

Trump’s announcement came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence “ignorant and stupid.”

“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,” read Trump’s letter to Kim.