Clouds gather over upcoming North Korea-United States summit as the reclusive nation on Wednesday threatened to cancel the much-anticipated summit, if Washington unilaterally pushes Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear arsenal.
If America “corners us and unilaterally demands we give up nuclear weapons we will no longer have an interest in talks and will have to reconsider whether we will accept the upcoming DPRK-US summit”, state media quoted vice-foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan saying.
The US-North Korea Summit is, as of now, scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.
The US is pressing for Pyongyang’s complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.
In addition to this, Kim Kye Gwan also castigated US National Security Advisor (NSA) John Bolton, who talked of a “Libyan model” for North Korean denuclearisation.
Kim said that it was a “highly sinister attempt to enforce the fate of Libya and Iraq upon the DPRK.”
Earlier North Korea called off the high-level talks with South Korea, scheduled for Wednesday to discuss follow-up measures to the two Korean leaders’ summit last month, in the wake of the recent military drills between South Korea and the US.
After calling off the scheduled Korean summit on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to media reports, had then also hinted at calling off the United States summit.
The military drills called ‘Max Thunder’ are taking place between the US and South Korea air forces.
These rehearsals are said to be meant for an invasion of North Korea and could negatively impact the melting inter-Korean relations, North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
