Trump: US Engaged in 'Very Productive Talks' With North Korea

The president said if the meeting is in fact called on again, it would be held on the same date, at the same time as originally planned: June 12 in Singapore. He also said talks might continue past the scheduled date.

Trump revealed a letter on Thursday that he'd sent the North Korean leader calling the much anticipated meeting off, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility." The move stunned South Korea, a key broker of the thaw in relations between Washington and Pyongyang, which spent much of 2017 engaged in a war of insults and threats.

Observers suggested the cancellation might be related to insulting comments made by a North Korean official about US Vice President Mike Pence earlier in the week, and a White House official told Reuters anonymously that North Korea had suddenly cut off direct contact with the US in the midst of planning the summit. 

North Korea, which had released three US prisoners ahead of the planned meeting and demolished its only nuclear test site on Thursday, though without international observers, the US complained, responded to the cancellation by calling it "regrettable." 

In a statement by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan carried by North Korean state outlet KCNA, Kim said the country remained ready to talk to the US at any time. "Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the US," Kim said.