North Korea warns US denuclearisation talks could collapse
North Korean officials have warned in a letter to the US that denuclearisation talks were “again at stake and may fall apart”, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The letter, delivered directly to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government felt the process could not move forward.
“The US is still not ready to meet [North Korean] expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty,” CNN reported, citing sources.
The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, leaving US-led UN forces technically still at war with North Korea.
The North has long made clear that it sees an official end to the state of war as crucial to lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula. The US has been reluctant to declare an end to the Korean War until after North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons programme.
US President Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Pompeo after the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official following the announcement of the trip last week, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
CNN reported that the letter was sent by Kim Yong-chol, the former head of North Korea’s spy agency.
CNN reported that the letter also mentioned that if a compromise could not be reached and the nascent talks crumbled, North Korea could resume “nuclear and missile activities”.
On Sunday, North Korea’s state media accused the US of “double-dealing” and “hatching a criminal plot” but did not mention Pompeo’s cancelled visit.
The Washington Post said the exact contents of the message were unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and Pompeo decided to call off the planned trip.
The trip had been announced the previous day for this week and Pompeo had intended to introduce a newly named special envoy, Stephen Biegun, to his North Korean counterparts.
In cancelling Pompeo’s trip, Trump publicly acknowledged for the first time that his effort to get North Korea to denuclearise had stalled since his June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore.
US intelligence and defence officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about North Korea’s willingness to give up its nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo’s trip to yield positive results.
A South Korea presidential spokesman said talks between Washington and Pyongyang were in a stalemate.
IT WAS SUFFICIENTLY BELLIGERENT THAT TRUMP AND POMPEO DECIDED TO CALL OFF THE PLANNED TRIP