US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came after a "trail of broken promises that gave the United States pause," said a Senior White House official to reporters.

Beginning last week, North Korea called a routine exercise between the US and South Korea "provocative military disturbances" and then cancelled their meeting with South Korea, the official cited.

"That constituted a broken promise," the official said on a background call.

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Pyongyang he was promised that the two sides would meet in Singapore last week to work on logistical preparations for the summit.

When the White House sent Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Liddell to Singapore the North Koreans did not show up.

"They waited and they waited. The North Koreans never showed up. The North Koreans didn't tell us anything, they simply stood us up," he said.

Today, North Korea claimed to have destroyed its Punggye-ri nuclear test site to which the official said, "we really don't know." Pompeo and South Korea were promised that international experts would be invited to witness the demolition "but that promise was broken," the official said.

"Instead, journalists were invited and we will not have forensic evidence that much was accomplished. It's possible that the tunnels were detonated in a way that will still allow them to be used in the future," he said.

Finally, he stressed that communication with Pyongyang has "also been spotty." "The United States has over the past week made numerous attempts to communicate with the North Koreans, but they have not responded," the official affirmed. (Pickup previous)

News Source: KUNA