Conservative commentator Bill Kristol on Thursday backed President Donald Trump cancelling next month's summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
"No summit is better than a summit where we could be giving away important equities that we care about in terms of containing North Korea and not walking away from our own allies," Kristol, editor-at-large for The Weekly Standard, told Jake Tapper on CNN.
"In general, I don't know if that much harm was done by all this at the end of the day."
Trump canceled the June 12 meeting with Kim in Singapore, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in recent statements from Pyongyang.
In a letter released by the White House on Twitter, the president said he believed it was "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."
North Korea hardened its rhetoric toward the U.S. earlier Thursday, warning it was ready for a "nuclear-to-nuclear" showdown if the U.S. did not follow through on the summit.
Trump later said the collapse was a setback for Pyongyang and the world, adding that the U.S. military was ready if necessary should a conflict occur on the Korean peninsula.
"While many things can happen and a great opportunity lies ahead, potentially, I believe this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world," Trump said at the White House.
However, Kristol expressed concerns about the fragile relationship between U.S. and its Asian allies could be imperiled by Trump's decision.
"These alliances are holding together for now because these people want to be friends of ours, want us to stay in the region and be as reliable as possible," he told Tapper.
"At some point Japan, South Korea, a heck of a lot of other nations, could look up and say: 'Who knows? We have to take care of ourselves.'
"Then, alliances will be falling apart that have served us well — and alliances that have been listening for a long time."
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