North Korea Threatens to Cancel Meeting Between Trump and Kim Jong Un
By: KELCEY CAULDER | MAY 16, 2018 | 7:18 AM
RE:
https://ijr.com/2018/05/1095531-nort...ng-threatened/
North Korea on Tuesday warned the United States that a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un is in jeopardy because of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, USA Today reported.
It also cancelled its scheduled meeting with South Korea over the military drills, which North Korea believed to be carried out in preparation for an invasion, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
"We have no choice but to suspend the North-South high-level talks planned for the 16th amid this menacing situation where an indiscriminate ruckus to invade the North and a confrontational mayhem are occurring in the South,” KCNA, North Korea’s state news agency said, according to Yonhap.
“The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities,” it continued.
U.S. officials said they have not been contacted by North Korea regarding the military drills or about cancelling the summit between Trump and Kim.
“We will continue to go ahead and plan the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said.
She also noted that Kim had “said previously that he understands the need and the utility” of the joint exercises.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reiterated that the U.S. would continue to plan for the meeting, but said the administration will “look at what North Korea has said independently” as it moves forward.
The Pentagon issued a statement after the possible cancellation was reported, stating that the nature of the joint exercises “has been clear for many decades and has not changed.”
"The purpose of the training is to enhance the ROK-U.S. Alliance's ability to defend the ROK and enhance interoperability and readiness,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said.
Last month, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in swore to end the decades-long Korean War and work toward their “common goal” of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. It is unclear how the drills will have affected this pledge.
President Trump is set to meet with Kim in Singapore on June 12.
About the writer: Kelcey Caulder is a News Fellow at IJR. Previously, she worked with the web team at the Los Angeles Times and led the Student Press Law Center’s campaign to empower women in journalism. She graduated in 2016 from the University of Georgia...
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Personal note: Much of what is being said prior to any meetings is normally jocular positioning. This type of rhetoric will continue until there is a meeting or not. This type of threatening posturing has been seen throughout all conflicts around the world. Will it come to past they will have a sit down or will pressure's applied by both sides end up in a another stalemate? Kim is a kid with a lot of power in his country. He learned this from his Father and Grand-Father both of which he no doubt killed getting him his current position. I don't understand how one man can stir a country into such control and his followers to obey? Such cruelty to their own people? This type of regime is unhealthy and very damaging to the world. - But this is just my thoughts.
Boats