Global Geopolitical Series: North Korea threatens to cancel Trump-Kim summit after canceling inter-Korean meeting

After canceling an inter-Korean summit abruptly North Korea has threatened to cancel its much-anticipated meeting with the United States scheduled for June criticizing U.S. demand for unilateral concessions and unconditional nuclear abandonment. North Korea canceled its preparatory meeting with the South yesterday protesting large-scale military drill between South Korea and the United States.

A statement was released by North Korea’s state-owned news agency,

“The South Korean authorities, together with the U.S., 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.

Involved in the drill are over 100 fighters of various missions including B-52 strategic nuclear bombers and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters under the supervision of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces in South Korea and the South Korean air force. It is to last till May 25.

Public opinions at home and abroad comment that the maneuver is the largest-ever and a reflection of the invariable stand of the U.S. and South Korea to persist in the "maximum pressure and sanctions" against the DPRK.

The DPRK-targeted drill across South Korea is an undisguised challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and a deliberate military provocation to the trend of the favorably developing situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The north and the south solemnly declared in the declaration that a new peace era was ushered in and reached an agreement on making joint efforts to defuse the acute military tensions on the peninsula and substantially ease the danger of war and the U.S. also fully supported it.

However, even before the ink of the historic April 27 Declaration got dry, the south Korean authorities and the U.S. started such a drill against the DPRK, reacting to all the peace-loving efforts and good intentions which the DPRK has shown with rude and wicked provocation and arousing serious concern and disappointment among all the fellow countrymen and the international community wanting the declaration to be implemented.

If the U.S. and the south Korean authorities regard the phase of improving inter-Korean ties and the DPRK-U.S. dialogue provided by the proactive and broadminded efforts and measures of the DPRK as something allowed any time and any hour, then they are sadly mistaken.

The south Korean authorities, in particular, resorted to such improper acts quite contrary to the promise to make efforts for the peace, prosperity and reunification on the peninsula together with the north and are allowing even human scum to brazenly hurl mud at the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its system and play down the Panmunjom Declaration in front of the building of the "National Assembly".

There is a limit in showing goodwill and offering opportunity. The historic Panmunjom Declaration cannot be implemented by the unilateral efforts of a single party but can result in a good fruition only when the two parties create favorable conditions and climate by pooling their efforts.

We cannot but take a step of suspending the north-south high-level talks scheduled on May 16 under the prevailing seriously awful situation that a mad-cap north-targeted war and confrontation racket are being kicked up in South Korea.

The south Korean authorities lost to all senses, should be held wholly accountable for the scuttled north-south high-level talks and the difficulties and obstacles in the way of the north-south relations.

The U.S. will have to think twice about the fate of the DPRK-U.S. summit now on high agenda before a provocative military racket against the DPRK in league with the south Korean authorities.

We will closely watch the ensuing behavior of the U.S. and the south Korean authorities.”

In a separate statement, North Korea condemned the United States’ and South Korea’s focus on the human rights issue, which according to North is a non-existent.

It was a very clever move by North Korea to raise the stakes at a time when the world is celebrating the possibility of the end of the Korean War after almost six decades and there are premature talks of President Trump receiving the Nobel Prize.

Though withdrawal of U.S. military troops was on the table as Trump signaled that he wants to save the cost by reducing U.S. military presence in South Korea, agreeing to a pre-commitment from the U.S. side is unlikely as it would be cited as a defeat by President Trump’s critics in domestic politics.

South Korea regretted North’s decision and announced that the Panmunjom Declaration was made by South Korean president Moon Jae-in in good faith.