North Korea threatens to cancel US meeting over American military drills with South Korea, report says

By Elizabeth Zwirz | Fox News
11 mins ago

North Korea announced it has canceled a high-level summit with South Korea and is threatening to cancel its meeting with the United States over American military drills with South Korea, Yonhap News said Tuesday, citing KCNA.

KCNA, North Korea's state media outlet, claimed that the military drills were a rehearsal for a potential invasion of the country.

"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," KCNA said, according to Yonhap News. "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."

A meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is also in jeopardy, according to Yonhap News. Trump announced last week that the "highly anticipated meeting" with Kim would take place in Singapore on June 12.

However, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said during a Tuesday briefing that they had not received any "formal or even information notification of anything," and are continuing to plan the summit.

"I will say that Kim Jong Un had said previously that he understands the need and the utility of the United States and the Republic of Korea continuing in its joint exercises. They're exercises that are legal, and they're planned well, well in advance," Nauert said. "We have not heard anything from that government or the government of South Korea to indicate that we would not continue conducting these exercises or that we would not continue planning for our meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un next month."

She also added that the exercises are "certainly not provocative."

Wednesday's meeting between officials from the North and South Korea was expected to be a follow-up to the historic summit held last month between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to the report.

The pair in late April discussed the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The meeting was reportedly going to be held on the south side of Panmunjom.

The military exercises, dubbed the Max Thunder drills, began on Friday and included roughly 100 warplanes such as F-22 radar-evading fighters, B-52 bombers and F-15K jets, Yonhap reported.

The Pentagon has previously said that the annual joint military exercises with South Korea would continue despite the recent thaw in tensions between the U.S. and the rogue nation.

Kim recently told South Korean representatives that "he could understand why the joint exercises must resume in April on the same scale as before," according to South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, The New York Times reported.

The North's military was also reportedly informed of the planned drills.

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