North Korea Threatens to Cancel Talks with US

After months of talks and negotiations for improving ties and just a few days ahead of the planned talks between North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore to achieve the desired results, North Korea has threatened to cancel the talks if the US keeps insisting on its nuclear disarmament.

According to a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea is never interested in economic assistance from the United States and therefore can’t obey their push for nuclear disarmament. Kim Kye Gwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, North Korea said, “If they are genuinely committed to improving ties with Pyongyang, they will receive a deserving response. But if they try to push us into a corner and force only unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in that kind of talks and will have to reconsider the upcoming summit”.

Meanwhile, Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, South Korea has spoken to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who has made it clear that the preparation for the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim will continue keeping in mind the action of North Korea. Later a statement released by South Korean Foreign Ministry mentioned, “Minister Kang and Secretary Pompeo agreed to continue close cooperation between South Korea and the United States to achieve a complete denuclearization and peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula”.

The recent hostility and war of words between the US and North Korea started after the comments made by the national security adviser of US President Donald Trump, John Bolton, who said that North Korean much follow the Libyan model of denuclearization.

It is important here to note, following the US instruction, what destiny came in the way of Libya and Iraq. By the end of 2003, after months of negotiations with the United States, Libya agreed to dismantle its nuclear establishments and their chemical and biological weapon program. After eight years of agreeing to the US, when the relationship between Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and the US soured, NATO forces attacked Libya and overthrow Gadhafi and after days of abuse, killed him, shooting in the head.

Reacting on Bolton’s comment, Kim said, the move of the US is indicative of “an awfully sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq which had been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers. It is absolutely absurd to dare compare (North Korea), a nuclear weapon state, to Libya, which had been at the initial stage of nuclear development. World knows too well that our country is neither Libya nor Iraq which have met miserable fate”.

North Korea is also angry because, South Korea and the US are conducting the annual air force drills “Max Thunder” together, which North Korea has also objected in the past saying it would destabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula. In a statement, South Korea reacted sharply on North Korea saying, “it was regrettable that the North unilaterally postponed the talks due to the annual (South Korea-US) joint air combat drills. Such action by the North is inconsistent with the fundamental spirit and purpose of the Panmunjom Declaration agreed by the South and North leaders on April 27”.