North Korea threatens to cancel Trump summit – By David Lawler (axios.com) / May 15 2018
North Korea has cancelled talks with South Korea scheduled for Wednesday, and threatened to cancel next month’s summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un over joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Why it matters: This is a dramatic change in tone from North Korea, which recently released three U.S. prisoners and began dismantling a nuclear test site as part of efforts to lay the groundwork for talks with Trump. North Korea has long viewed the drills as a rehearsal for invasion, but had remained uncharacteristically silent about exercises last month.
The statement, issued via the KCNA news agency, reads in part:
“This exercise targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula. The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.”
