[Becky Anderson, Cnn:] You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Breaking news this hour. U.S. President Donald Trump says his summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un will not let me repeat that will not happen. In a letter to Kim Jong-un, President Trump cites, quote, tremendous anger and open hostility from North Korea as his reason for backing out. Sources tell CNN Mr. Trump is infuriated after the North called U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence, a quote, a political dummy. That remark came after Mr. Pence said earlier this week the situation in North Korea could end like the Libya model ended. Well, just a short time ago the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo read Mr. Trump's full letter to a congressional hearing. Here is Mike Pompeo's reading of what is the President's message to Kim Jong-un.
[Mike Pompeo, U.s. Secretary Of State:] Dear Mr. Chairman, We greatly appreciate you time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to his Summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. 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. 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. I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Someday, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated. If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history. Sincerely yours, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[Anderson:] CNN, of course, has every angle of this story covered. Jeremy Diamond is at the White House. Ivan Watson in Seoul in South Korea and our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joining us from London. Let me start with you Christiane. This summit off for now, at least and some bombastic language from the U.S. President in his letter to Kim Jong-un. What happened?
[Christiane Amanpour, Cnn Chief International Correspondent:] Well, look, it's really, obviously, difficult to unpick from this faraway, you're not right in the room. But it's clear that we saw in public a series of events unfolding. After Kim Jong-un said that he wouldn't mind, you know, the joint military exercise continuing, that he had stopped nuclear tests, that he would stop intercontinental ballistic tests. He released the hostages. He did a lot to try to pave the way for this summit. Then you started hearing him get upset about the tests that were going on around the joint exercises, but it really went off the skids when twice there was senior American officials talking about the Libya model. That is always been a hornet's nest for North Korea. They have always said we are not Iraq, we are not Libya. We don't give up our weapons of mass destruction in order to just be overthrown and deposed. So, you had John Bolton, I think, you know, a couple weeks ago on CBS, using this Libya model and expounding that model which involves military force. Let's face it, that's what it involves. And the overthrow eventually of Muammar Gadhafi and the death of him. And then President Trump tried to walk that back saying, no, it's not a Libya model. But then Mike Pence doubled down and said, well, it may be a Libya model if North Korea doesn't do a deal. So, this is the message that North Korea was getting. [11:5:00] And, you know, then they started to ramp up their rhetoric and some are saying, that look, you know, both sides had different views of exactly what denuclearization meant. President Trump believed that it was maximalist. That it meant give up everything right now, all at once before you get anything in return. North Korea was like, no. We expected to be give-and-take. We do an action. You do an action. We think denuclearization actually means everybody including the United States. So, it all got a bit sort of out of hand. And in a way, it shows the perils of having this sort of leader summit and agreeing to this without having the, you know, the experts sort it all out and see what they can achieve around a negotiating table before the Presidents and leaders meet to actually sort of ratify it. So, you know, and now this letter which is specifically to Kim Jong-un, you know, looks like it could put his face in it a little bit. Put his back against the wall personally directed at him, revealed by the President on international television. We're going to have to wait and see what their next move is now.
[Anderson:] Yes, OK. We'll try and get to the bottom that as we move through these hours. Jeremy, if this Libya model was clearly such an issue to Pyongyang, then why use it? Did the new national security adviser, John Bolton, for example, purposefully sabotage this summit? And is this, as some are saying, John Bolton, 1, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, nil, at this point?
[Jeremy Diamond, Cnn White House Reporter:] Yes, well, John Bolton certainly knew how the North Koreans would react to the mere mention of Libya let alone the Libyan model. You know, so there have been questions for weeks now about whether John Bolton who weeks before coming into the administration had made some pretty bellicose statements about North Korea. Had signaled that diplomacy was not the option. Whether indeed he was trying to sabotage this summit. But it is important to note that John Bolton when he made those comments, he referred specifically to the Libya model of 20032004. He was talking about the denuclearization efforts. He was talking about the complete and verifiable denuclearization of Libya. Of course, the immediate implication is what happened several years later. But what the President tried to do last week was he tried to make clear that the Libya model would not apply as in the model of the overthrow of Muammar Gadhafi, would not apply in this situation if Kim Jong-un agreed to denuclearization. And he said that the Libya model, meaning the overthrow not the actual denuclearization would apply if a deal was not struck. So, what's interesting is that Mike Pence in his comments earlier this week was merely parroting what the president of the United States had said just last week. But the North Koreans had chosen not to go after the President directly but instead to go after vice President Mike Pence who made those very same comments. Clearly, some experts are suspecting that the North Koreans have been trying to save face perhaps with some of these more harshly worded statements but, clearly on the American side, this is something that was not viewed as a face-saving measure in any way, or any way appropriate even if it was going after the vice President and not the President of the United States. We were told that officials and the President himself was very angered this morning by those North Korean statements. And that's why they decided to pull out of the summit in part. Beyond that, of course, we know there have been a lot of distance between the U.S. and North Korea as far as what specifically denuclearization means. How do you accomplish it? And so, because those issues had not yet been resolved there was increasing skepticism on the U.S. side that going forward with this summit was the right move.
[Anderson:] Ivan, you are in Seoul. South Korea desperately wanted this summit. What's been the response there?
[Ivan Watson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] The latest we can report is that President Moon Jae-in just back from a meeting, a summit with President Trump in Washington at the White House. He has convened an emergency meeting that includes his defense minister, his intelligence chief, foreign minister, unification minister as well. We're hearing that it was convened at 11:30 p.m. local time. That's about 40 minutes ago. And, clearly, in response to this bombshell of a decision coming from President Trump. You'll recall that when President Moon was on his way to Washington for that meeting on Tuesday with President Trump, that one of his top advisers told journalists that he thought there was a 99.9 percent chance that this Singapore summit between the U.S. and North Korea would, in fact, go ahead. And we were hearing that his main message to President Trump at the time was stay the course. Don't get distracted. Don't get disappointed by the recent criticism coming out of Pyongyang. You are the man to make history, to break cut through this Gordian Knot on the Korean Peninsula and bring peace to the region. Well clearly, those arguments were not enough to convince President Trump, at least for the time being, to stick with this summit for June 12th. I was reporting throughout the day here on the most recent North Korean statement bashing Mike Pence. Of course, in response to Mike Pence, very open threat that if North Korea didn't accept a deal with President Trump, that it would end up, like Libya, with its leader killed effectively. That was what North Korea was reacting to when it called Pence a political dummy, when it threatened a nuclear to nuclear showdown. And when it also made the argument the reason North Korea developed nuclear weapons in the first place was to prevent it from ending up following in the footsteps of Libya and its deposed and murder dictator Becky.
[Anderson:] The perspective there in Seoul. Stand by, everybody. CNN's Will Ripley is inside North Korea right now. There on what was a trip to watch what Pyongyang claims was its blowing up its nuclear test site just hours ago. Will just speaking to our colleague Poppy Harlow from a moving train. I want our viewers just to hear some of that. Stand by.
[Will Ripley, Cnn Correspondent:] Poppy, we were just sitting kind of wrapping up the day. It's now late in the evening here. We're on the train headed back to Wonsan after witnessing the, what North Korea claims, is the destruction of a nuclear site at Punggye-ri. So, we were sitting around a table and I got the phone call and read out the letter for President Trump and I can tell you there was just a real sense of shock amongst the people that I was sitting with. The North Korean officials they didn't give any official comment. But immediately got up and left and are now on the phone relaying the news up to the top. And imagine how they are feeling at this moment given the fact that they just blew up their nuclear site today as a sign, they say, of their willingness to denuclearize. That they were doing this to make a point ahead, and as you mentioned, ahead of the summit in Singapore on June 12th that was scheduled with President Trump. That until literally minutes ago they thought was still going to happen. That said, the North Koreans have said that they'll not going to beg for dialogue and they were infuriated by comments made by the Vice President, Mike Pence, for that President Trump's national security adviser, John Roberts, talking about North Korea saying that North Korea would follow the Libya model. Of course, Gadhafi and Libya gave up his nuclear weapons and was overthrown by U.S.-backed rebels and died several years later.
[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Correspondent:] And, Will
[Ripley:] They're unwilling to accept that here. The North Koreans have said that they're not going to beg for dialogue. They had said they'd be willing to walk away if they don't like what they're hearing from the United States. But the fact they went through with this trip, you know, they invited us, and we were kind of on hold for 24 hours. I was frankly unsure if this was actually going to happen, but the trip did happen. We were taking to the nuclear site. We spent nine hours. Watched them blow up three tunnels in the nuclear site and all of the buildings on the site as well. And we don't have experts here to verify with us if this destruction is absolute, if it means the nuclear site is unusable as North Korea claims. But they told us we're being transparent here. We're showing you our nuclear site for the first time for journalists. We're blowing up. We're willing to denuclearize. We're willing to talk with the United States. But they don't want to be compared to Libya. A country whose government was overthrown after giving up its nuclear weapons. And that's why they felt they had to respond with they had very strongly worded statement targeting the Vice President, Mike Pence. They've also targeted President Trump's national security adviser as well, saying they don't want him to Singapore. They don't want anybody in Singapore they feel is going to disrespect them. But nonetheless, being inside this country just hours after they blew up the nuclear site and learning of this, it was a very awkward and uncomfortable moment. And we'll have to see what happens in the coming hours and days on the ground here.
[Anderson:] Christiane, you were recently in the region what was a historic inter-Korea summit. What has been going on behind the scenes in North Korea and quite frankly, what happens next?
[Amanpour:] Well, look, that is really what we have to wait for. Because this is obviously, this tit-for-tat situation that we've seen unfold and playing out now on the global stage. Only it's not over some small subject. It's over a massive, massive subject. A nuclear-armed North Korea and the United States both in sort of highly charged rhetoric against each other. I think what strikes me from what Will is that again it threatens to put their back against a wall. They say that they did this for transparency. Of course, there were no technicians, as far as Will could make out there, as he said. They just saw what they saw. They don't know the extent of what the North Koreans did. So, we're taking it on face value. But we understand that. It's on face value. It reminds me of ten years almost exactly when we went to Yongbyon, which is there plutonium processing plant and watched them dismantle it, blow up the cooling tower. Only to see sort of that era of potential rapprochement fade. What also is very important to note is the following. As Ivan said, this is really make or break for the South Korean President. He has been shepherding this along with North Korea. He has been flattering President Bush, telling sorry, Trump. Telling President Trump that he could make history because he believes the diplomatic solution to the North Korean crisis, not the military solution. And I'm afraid it reminds me now of him going to the White House really laying it on thick for President Trump, in much the same way as President Macron did over Iran. President Trump listens and then when they're out of the country, out of the White House, he pulls out of the Iran thing and pulls out of this summit. And if you remember, back in 2002-ish, around then, President Bush, similarly, sold the South Korean President down the road over his sunshine policy with North Korea. And what we got after that was a North Korea racing towards the kind of nuclear capability they have right now. So, with any luck, all sides can put this summit back on track, because obviously important. But it clearly shows the need to have the experts work out the parameters, work out what's possible. Work out the negotiations. Before there's this cart before the horse situation where the Presidents and the leader and they get all excited. And there's going to be a summit and that means there has to be something amazing and tangible and big they can each say is a win. And then it all collapsed. And potentially because it's kind of easier to back out than go there without knowing what you'll come away with.
[Anderson:] Our panel is standing by, including Robin Wright. Who is a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center who has written extensively on North Korea. Let me pick up on something that Christiane just said, Robin. Is that the problem, that this Trump administration doesn't to experts?
[Robin Wright, Fellow, U.s. Institute Of Peace/woodrow Wilson International Center:] Well, one thing that's most alarming about the process that's played out since January 1st and Kim Jong-un's outreach to the South Koreans in the United States, is the fact there's been very little development of the specific ideas. How do you denuclearize? How is this process going to play out? Over the past two days, the President has talked about both the all or nothing approach. But also qualified and said, well, there may be a step by step. You have a sense they haven't worked out the logistics of diplomacy, much less the substance of what exactly denuclearization means. So, you have this tension play out that exacerbates the dangers. It makes the alternatives look like, well, it's either all or nothing, North Korea gives everything up, or there's a military confrontation. The kind of language that's been used over the past 24 hours. Those by the North Koreans and now by President Trump about the nuclear potential, nuclear conflict and again, this kind of, my button is bigger than your button, is very alarming and it does not bode well. If they do manage to resume diplomacy and finally sit down at a table.
[Anderson:] Robin, let me just read out parts of the letter that we have all now seen read out to Congress by the Secretary of State in the past hour. This is the letter from Donald Trump to Kim Jong-un calling off this summit. In part, he says, 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. And he went on to say, to your point, robin, you talk about nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used. You have done an awful lot of work, analysis on North Korea. How is this sort of rhetoric going to go down?
[Wright:] Not well. And it's the very thing that North Korea has feared the most. So, this is what they've been reacting to over the past three weeks since John Bolton at the end of April 1st brought up thus Libya mode. Which he may have been talking about in terms of process, allowing access by outside American and Western inspectors. More than what happened to the fate of the leaders. But this does appear to be kind of signaling that if you don't go along with what we want, we in the United States, then there is the danger that we'll not only use nuclear weapons or there will be some kind of military confrontation. But it had suggested rightly or wrongly to the North Koreans that the regime itself was at stake. Now this dates back 15 years and there's a fascinating history that dates back to Bolton's first confrontation with North Korea in 2003 when he was with the State Department during the George W. Bush administration. And he gave a speech in South Korea where he chastised the current North Korean leader's father and talked about the hellish nightmare of life in North Korea. And at the time, the North Koreans responded by refusing to engage in diplomacy that the Bush administration was part of. Refusing to meet with Bolton, whom they called a scumbag and a bloodsucker. And so, this hostility that's been initiated since Bolton's remark this time around really dates back 15 years to an almost identical situation.
[Anderson:] Which, Jeremy, brings me back to a point that we were discussing earlier. Is this convenient for the new national security adviser for all intents and purposes? Some might use the term sabotage. Did John Bolton ever want this summit to happen?
[Diamond:] It's unclear. You know, as I said before, previously before joining the administration, John Bolton had clearly been very skeptical of the idea of diplomacy. And some said that if he was supportive of this summit it was only so that it could crumble, and they could move to the next option which was the military option. That is the key question now. And we saw both of these options, kind of outlined in the President's letter. Where on one hand he's saying, listen, we have bigger and more powerful nuclear weapons than you do, but we hope we don't have to use them. And at the same time saying perhaps he will meet Kim Jong-un someday. So, that is the question now is, where do these talks go? Is there going to be continued diplomatic detentes right now, continued discussions between Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterparts. Or are we moving towards a military option? Towards once again an escalation both verbally and perhaps even in terms of actual substantive action on the Korean Peninsula.
[Anderson:] Ivan, there will be those who in Donald Trump's defense say that what he has facilitated has been at least a thaw between the two Koreas. He's also had the U.S. hostages returned home, and he thanked the North Korean leader for that. Reminding the world who would be reading that letter between the two, that he had achieved that. So, there will be some wins in this for Donald Trump. For the South Korean President then, though, is this make or break? What happens?
[Watson:] I can't help but look at this as a serious setback for the South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Who had his own summit meeting with Kim Jong-un at the end of last month and described that as a stepping stone towards a North KoreaU.S. summit in Singapore on June 12th. He had positioned himself as a mediator. He had been a great promoter of helping establish this dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. And recalled it was President Trump who suddenly announced he would meet with Kim Jong-un after top officials from South Korea traveled from Pyongyang to Washington to personally deliver messages that they'd heard from the North Korean leadership. So, Moon Jae-in had an enormous amount invested in this. It was incredibly popular the progress he'd made with Kim Jong-un, according to surveys here in South Korea. There was a certain euphoria here. Where reading reports about land purchases around the demilitarized zone with great hopes that peace would break out there. And hearing about corporations that were getting ready to start conducting cross-border trade that's been suspended for years now, particularly with the Kaesong industrial complex, which is on the other side of the demilitarized zone. And on top of that, Moon Jae-in travelled to the White House to try to convince President Trump to go forward with the Singapore summit. SoU.S. summit.
[Anderson:] Robin Wright, Ivan Watson in Seoul, Jeremy Diamond in Washington, our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour in London. To all of you, a thank you. And let me just wind up before we take a break here with some news that our colleagues in Washington are publishing. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was involved with the administration's discussions about pulling out of the June 12th summit last night. And this morning which included discussions about the path forward. He characterized discussions as ongoing but insisted they always knew in inverted commas, a quote from him that the summit might not pan out. Pompeo said he was hopeful they could get back in place of working on a path forward, but insisted it was up to Kim Jong-un. He reiterated what President Trump said in that letter that we have been discussing in the past half hour or so to Kim that they welcome a call from him. What now? Well, in answer to that, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State of the U.S. said, and I quote, in some ways it is situation normal. The pressure campaign, he said, continues. More after this.