Trump to hop a flight home from the Philippines instead of attending East Asia Summit

US President Donald Trump will skip the East Asia Summit next month despite being in host country the Philippines at the time, opting to head home from his trip to the region on the day of the meeting instead.

The White House said Trump would be returning to the United States on November 14, which is the same day as the East Asia Summit. Trump is, however, expected to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit – also in the Philippines – the day before.

Another US delegation will attend the EAS, which will include more than a dozen Asian nations as well as Australia, New Zealand and Russia. The White House did not give a reason as to Trump’s absence.

The Philippines will be the final stop of Trump’s 12-day, five-nation trip – his first to Asia. The trip is expected to be dominated by Trump demanding that American allies in the region increase pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.

But for all of President Trump’s overheated talk about North Korea’s Kim Jung-un and the country’s nuclear programme, Trump is unlikely to make the usual presidential visit to the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea known as the demilitarised zone. Trump has derided Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatened to unleash “fire and fury” on Pyongyang if its leaders do not abandon the weapons programme.

If Trump does not go while in South Korea, he would be breaking from recent presidential custom. All presidents apart from one since Ronald Reagan have visited the DMZ, which has separated the North and South for 64 years.