Kim’s summit with Trump could be off says N Korea

NOrTH Korea last night called into question an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump set for next month.

Pyongyang cancelled high-level talks due to take place today with Seoul because of military exercises being held between the US and South Korea, denouncing the drills as a ‘rude and wicked provocation’.

‘There is a limit in showing goodwill and offering opportunity,’ the North’s official news agency KCNA said. It claimed the drills between the two allies’ air forces were a rehearsal for invasion and ‘a deliberate military provocation’.

A border meeting between the Koreas – to set up military and red Cross talks about restarting reunions for those separated by the Korean War – was cancelled by Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s yonhap news agency. yonhap said a twoweek

‘Rude and wicked’

military exercise between the US and South Korea began on Friday. The operations are thought to have involved 100 warplanes.

The North’s KCNA said: ‘ The US will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-US summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.’

yesterday, South Korea’s military said North Korea was moving ahead with plans to close its nuclear test site next week, an assessment backed by US researchers who say satellite images show the North has begun dismantling facilities.

The US has said it is going ahead with plans for the meeting between President Trump and Mr Kim. The government said it had not heard anything directly from Pyongyang or Seoul that would change plans for the historic summit.