SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
North Korea is warning that ongoing military drills by the U.S. and South Korean air forces could jeopardize a summit scheduled for June. (Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Navy/Flickr/cc)
'Provocative Military Ruckus': North Korea Warns US-South Korea War Games Could Derail Trump-Kim Summit
Canceling high-level talks scheduled with counterparts in Seoul this week, Pyongyang urges Trump administration to "undertake careful deliberations" about how military exercises could negatively diplomatic progress
May 15, 2018
Pointing to "provocative" military drills the U.S. and South Korean air forces are conducting in the region, North Korea is warning that the war games could jeopardize a highly anticipated summit scheduled to take place in Singapore next month, which is supposed to bring together the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The warning came as the North abruptly canceled a Wednesday meeting with representatives from South Korea just hours in advance. Denouncing the "Max Thunder" joint drills that kicked off on Friday, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North's state media, said:
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...
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.
The Associated Press reports that representatives at the Wednesday meeting were planning "to discuss setting up military and Red Cross talks aimed at reducing border tension and restarting reunions between families separated by the Korean War."
Following KCNA's announcement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a press briefing on Tuesday that the Trump administration had not heard anything from the North or South Korean governments "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."
The development comes as North Korea proceeds with its plans to destroy Punggye-ri, the complex where the country has conducted all of its known nuclear tests, ahead of the June 12 summit with Trump. The North has said it will invite foreign reporters--including some from the United States--to witness the dismantlement, which is set to occur sometime next week.
KCNA, citing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, reported that "dismantlement of the nuclear test ground will be done in the following sequence--making all tunnels of the test ground collapse by explosion; completely blocking entries; removing all observation facilities, research institutes and structures of guard units on the ground."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Pointing to "provocative" military drills the U.S. and South Korean air forces are conducting in the region, North Korea is warning that the war games could jeopardize a highly anticipated summit scheduled to take place in Singapore next month, which is supposed to bring together the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The warning came as the North abruptly canceled a Wednesday meeting with representatives from South Korea just hours in advance. Denouncing the "Max Thunder" joint drills that kicked off on Friday, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North's state media, said:
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...
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.
The Associated Press reports that representatives at the Wednesday meeting were planning "to discuss setting up military and Red Cross talks aimed at reducing border tension and restarting reunions between families separated by the Korean War."
Following KCNA's announcement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a press briefing on Tuesday that the Trump administration had not heard anything from the North or South Korean governments "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."
The development comes as North Korea proceeds with its plans to destroy Punggye-ri, the complex where the country has conducted all of its known nuclear tests, ahead of the June 12 summit with Trump. The North has said it will invite foreign reporters--including some from the United States--to witness the dismantlement, which is set to occur sometime next week.
KCNA, citing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, reported that "dismantlement of the nuclear test ground will be done in the following sequence--making all tunnels of the test ground collapse by explosion; completely blocking entries; removing all observation facilities, research institutes and structures of guard units on the ground."
Pointing to "provocative" military drills the U.S. and South Korean air forces are conducting in the region, North Korea is warning that the war games could jeopardize a highly anticipated summit scheduled to take place in Singapore next month, which is supposed to bring together the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The warning came as the North abruptly canceled a Wednesday meeting with representatives from South Korea just hours in advance. Denouncing the "Max Thunder" joint drills that kicked off on Friday, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North's state media, said:
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...
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.
The Associated Press reports that representatives at the Wednesday meeting were planning "to discuss setting up military and Red Cross talks aimed at reducing border tension and restarting reunions between families separated by the Korean War."
Following KCNA's announcement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a press briefing on Tuesday that the Trump administration had not heard anything from the North or South Korean governments "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."
The development comes as North Korea proceeds with its plans to destroy Punggye-ri, the complex where the country has conducted all of its known nuclear tests, ahead of the June 12 summit with Trump. The North has said it will invite foreign reporters--including some from the United States--to witness the dismantlement, which is set to occur sometime next week.
KCNA, citing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, reported that "dismantlement of the nuclear test ground will be done in the following sequence--making all tunnels of the test ground collapse by explosion; completely blocking entries; removing all observation facilities, research institutes and structures of guard units on the ground."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.