Article snippet: MORE’s decision to cancel a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left a sense of unease over the region’s future that many had hoped wouldn’t return after a tumultuous 2017. The cancelation wasn’t a complete surprise given the ramped-up rhetoric from Pyongyang over the past week. For President Trump, the summit’s proverbial nail in the coffin appeared to be North Korea’s Wednesday night statement calling Vice President Pence a “political dummy” and threatening a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown” if there was no meeting. By Thursday morning, Trump had dictated a letter to Kim saying that “based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement” the summit that had been planned for June 12 in Singapore “will not take place.” Here are five takeaways from that decision. The likelihood of war has increased This year had seen a reprieve from the nuclear saber rattling of 2017, but with the summit off, experts predict North Korea will resume its missile testing, raising the possibility of a U.S. military response. “The world is not safer the day after the decision is made not to meet,” said Robert Gallucci, the chief U.S. negotiator during the 1994 North Korea nuclear crisis. “I did not enjoy 2017 as a North Korea-U.S. year, and I’m afraid we’re back in the soup now.” The Pentagon says U.S. military posture has not changed as a result of the talks faltering. “We want to be ready to respond quickly to anything, but it’s no... Link to the full article to read more