Pyongyang will cancel the summit with the US, if Washington continues to demand unilateral de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula, said the first deputy foreign minister of the DPRK, Kim Kye-gwan.
"We are not interested in negotiations that require us to unilaterally abandon nuclear weapons. We will no longer be interested in negotiations if the US only attempts to drive us into a corner and force us to abandon nuclear weapons. We will have nothing to do but reconsider whether to give consent to the summit with the United States, "local news agencies quoted a senior official as saying.
Kim Kye-kwan also criticized the proposal of John Bolton, US President's adviser on national security, to conduct nuclear disarmament of the DPRK on the Libyan model. "The world knows that our country is not Libya or Iraq, the fate of which turned out to be unhappy," the diplomat added. According to him, it is absurd to compare the nuclear power of the DPRK with Libya, whose nuclear program was only at the initial stage. Libya herself refused the nuclear program.
State Department spokesman Heather Neuert said that the US has not received notification of the cancellation of the summit, is continuing preparations for it and are confident that Korean leader Kim Jong-un is aware of the need for such maneuvers.
US President Donald Trump earlier said he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Ne in Singapore on June 12.
On the eve of the North Korean authorities canceled the talks with South Korea, which were to be held on May 16 following the meeting of the leaders of both states on April 27. The reason was the "large-scale combined aerial combat exercises" of South Korea and the United States, which are scheduled for May 25 and will be "on the initiative of the American aggressive forces" with the participation of more than 100 fighters, including the B-52 nuclear strategic bomber and F-22 invisible fighter. But in Seoul, Pyongyang's protest was ignored. "The Republic of Korea and the US will continue joint maneuvers of the Air Force Max Thunder despite protests from the DPRK," the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday.
Recall, on April 27, the leaders of South Korea and North Korea held the first summit in ten years. Kim Jong-un was the first North Korean leader to cross the military demarcation line into South Korea's zone of responsibility.
Following the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted in which the DPRK and South Korea announced their intention to seek the full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and improve relations.
In February 2005, the DPRK declared its possession of nuclear weapons "designed exclusively for self-defense and deterrence." In October 2006, the first subterranean nuclear test, the capacity of which was estimated to be less than a kiloton in TNT equivalent, was held at the Phungery test site in Kilju County in Hamgyong-pukto province. This test of nuclear charge caused condemnation of the world community and led to the adoption by the UN Security Council of resolution 1718, which provided for an embargo on the supply to the DPRK of certain types of weapons, materials and equipment that could facilitate the implementation of programs related to nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles or other weapons mass destruction.
But after that Pyongyen conducted five more tests. The UN Security Council, in turn, increased the sanctions against the DPRK nine more times. The last time it happened on December 22, 2017.