Image of North Korea’s ICBM missile test on July 4, 2017 Photo: Screenshot/CNN-KCTV
After weeks of positive messaging about its intent to resume international engagement, North Korea on Wednesday appeared to threw doubts over a summit with U.S. scheduled next month, objecting to a reported demand that Pyongyang denuclearize first.
President Donald Trump agreed to a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un June 12 after two sides reported progress on mutual concern but Pyongyang now says the U.S. must stop insisting that the country “unilaterally” give up its nuclear program.
Pyongyang’s latest remarks follow its threat to suspend joint military drills with South Korea over what North Korea sees as vitiating atmosphere.
Washington’s “sincerity” toward improved relations with North Korea, will get a “deserved response from us,” Kim Gye Gwan, vice foreign minister, said.
But he was categorical on the position that Democratic People’s Republic of Korea would adopt if things don’t improve in its perspective.
“However, if the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-U.S. summit,” he added.
The latest divergence ahead of the planned talks is being seen as representing a pattern on part of the North Korean regime, which in the past has used its nuclear and missile capabilities as threats.
But President Trump has invested a lot of effort into the possible rapprochement with Pyongyang, led by Kim Un, once derided as “rocket man.”
In recent days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea and three Americans held captive by Pyongyang were released, building an environment of trust and hope toward eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
President Trump personally received the released Americans on their arrival and the White House has been touting progress over North Korean nuclear issue as a major success.
