Korean Peninsula Diplomacy: DPRK threatens to cancel summit with the US

World
Europe

02:24

The DPRK has threatened to cancel next month's summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump. Pyongyang said the meeting would be scrapped if the US keeps on insisting the DPRK abandons its nuclear weapons program. CGTN's Jack Barton brings us this report from Seoul.

D.P.R.K state media warned on Wednesday that the upcoming summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump could be cancelled over the United States' demand that Pyongyang destroy all nuclear weapons as well as irritation over ongoing military drills.

KRT News Reader "The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned DPRK-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities."

Pyongyang also insisted sanctions should be eased throughout potential negotiations not at the end. The warning came only hours after the D.P.R.K. abruptly cancelled high-level talks with Seoul citing the ongoing U.S.-South Korea war games.

BAIK TAE-HYUN, SPOKESPERSON SOUTH KOREAN UNIFICATION MINISTRY "It is regrettable that the North unilaterally postponed the inter-Korean high-level talks citing the annual South Korea-US joint aerial drills right after it informed us of the date of the talks, as it does not match with the fundamental spirit and purpose of the Panmunjom Declaration agreed on by the two leaders on April 27th."

JACK BARTON SEOUL "Following Pyongyang's second warning South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa spoke on the phone with the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Later South Korea's foreign ministry indicated the big picture had not fundamentally changed since a press briefing held a few hours earlier in Washington."

HEATHER NAUERT, SPOKESPERSON US STATE DEPARTMENT "We are operating under the idea and the notion that the president's meeting is going forward with Chairman, with Chairman Kim next month."

The D.P.R.K. says it still has high hopes for the talks between Trump and Kim, but has now made its position clear: that denuclearization does not mean giving up its entire nuclear arsenal and that it expects reciprocity for any concessions.

The diplomatic outburst comes roughly a week ahead of Pyongyang's plans to dismantle its key nuclear test site. Jack Barton, CGTN, Seoul.