North Korea threatened to walk away from its meeting with President Donald Trump next month if the U.S. made a “one-sided demand” for the regime to surrender its nuclear weapons.
Kim Kye Gwan, a vice foreign minister and a top North Korea disarmament negotiator, said the regime was disappointed by recent comments from the U.S. on their goals for the summit, according to a statement published Wednesday by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Kim said North Korea felt “repugnance” toward National Security Adviser John Bolton and rejected a “Libya model” in which the regime quickly gives away its nuclear weapons.
“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,” Kim said. He added that Trump risked becoming a “more tragic and unsuccessful president than his predecessors” if he didn’t accept North Korea as a nuclear power.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. China, North Korea’s top trading partner and ally, called on both sides to “avoid further provocation.”
“The amelioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula is hard won and should be cherished,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing. – READ MORE
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