North Korea Threatens To Pull Out Of Historic Summit
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) - North Korea is threating to cancel next month's highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un if they believe the negotiations will only "drive them into a corner."
The White House said Wednesday morning it is not surprised North Korea is threating to call off next month's historic meeting.
"The president is very used to and ready for tough negotiations and if they want to meet we'll be ready and if they don't that's okay too," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
The North issued a statement targeting remarks, like this one, made last month by National Security Advisor John Bolton on CBS' Face the Nation in which he said Korea should quickly dismantle its nuclear arsenal as Libya did 15 years ago.
"But is it a requirement that Kim Jong Un agree to give away those weapons before you give any kind of concession," asked Margaret Brennan.
"I think that's right. I think we're looking at the Libya model of 2003, 2004," he replied.
The threat to the summit came just hours after North Korea abruptly canceled a meeting with South Korean officials. The plan was to discuss the recent agreement between the two countries to reduce military tensions.
South Korea's unification ministry called it regrettable.
The sudden withdrawal was in response to annual combined South Korean and U.S. military drills, similar to one conducted last year. The Pentagon calls them "routine and purely defensive."
South Korea said it has no plans to stop the military drills, which last for two weeks.