North Korea claims US is plotting INVASION as Trump summit could be ABANDONED
NORTH Korea has accused the US of preparing for a "pre-emptive strike" against Kim
Jong-un as its historic summit with Donald Trump hangs in the balance.
A highly anticipated meeting between the US president and North Korean supreme leader
Kim Jong-un has been scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.
But North Korea dramatically threw plans into doubt last night by suggesting the summit
could be cancelled if the US makes "one-sided" demands about giving up its nuclear weapons.
"If the US 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-US summit," North Korea's vice foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan said.
The fragile diplomatic process was dealt another blow just hours before, when North Korea abruptly
scrapped planned border talks with South Korea.
The staging of military drills involving more than 100 US and South Korea aircraft was cited
as the reason for ditching the talks, according to Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).
The annual two-week Max Thunder exercise started on Friday, with F-22, F-15K and F-16 fighter
jets among the aircraft taking part.
In a bellicose statement, KCNA said the drills are a "rude and wicked provocation" and
run "contrary to the promise to make efforts for the peace".
Max Thunder is a rehearsal for a US-led invasion of North Korea that arouses "serious concern
and disappointment" for the peace process, KCNA said.
"The south Korean authorities, together with the US, has been staging the largest-ever
'2018 Max Thunder' joint air drill throughout South Korea since May 11 in a bid to make
a preemptive air strike at the DPRK and win the air," KCNA, Kim's propaganda wing,
said.
Nevertheless, South Korea and the US have agreed to press ahead with combined military
drills regardless of the tense diplomatic situation threatening to derail the summit.
A source for the ministry did concede that B-52 strategic bombers, which Kim fears could
be used to strike North Korea, may not participate.
"The exercise will proceed as planned, and regarding that, there are no differences between
the South and US," South Korea's Ministry of Defence said.
Any cancellation of the summit in Singapore, the first meeting between a serving US president
and a North Korean leader, would deal a major blow to what would be the biggest diplomatic
achievement of Trump's presidency.
A US government expert on North Korea said Kim may also be trying to gauge whether Trump
is willing to walk away from the meeting.
Joshua Pollack, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said
Pyongyang appeared irritated by the US administration's vow to maintain sanctions in spite of North
Korean concessions.
"The North Koreans want a change in tone from the US, and at least so far, they're not hearing
one," he said.
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