{"id":164811,"date":"2018-05-24T03:34:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T07:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=164811"},"modified":"2018-05-24T03:34:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T07:34:31","slug":"north-korea-slams-pence-as-summit-with-trump-grows-shakier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/24\/north-korea-slams-pence-as-summit-with-trump-grows-shakier\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea slams Pence as summit with Trump grows shakier"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The outburst at Pence, issued in the name of a top Foreign Ministry official, comes on the heels of another sharp rebuke of Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton, and has raised concerns a major gap has opened between the two sides just weeks before the June 12 summit in Singapore. (Photo<\/a>: Vice President Mike Pence\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO \u2014 North Korea has lobbed another verbal salvo at Washington ahead of an increasingly embattled plan for its leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Donald\u00a0Trump\u00a0to meet next month, calling Vice-President Mike Pence a \u201cpolitical dummy\u201d and saying it is just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table.<\/p>\n

The outburst at Pence, issued in the name of a top Foreign Ministry official, comes on the heels of another sharp rebuke of\u00a0Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton, and has raised concerns a major gap has opened between the two sides just weeks before the June 12 summit in Singapore.<\/p>\n

In both cases, Pyongyang was trying to push back against hard-line comments suggesting North Korea may end up like Libya if it doesn’t move forward quickly and irreversibly with concrete measures to get rid of its nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Choe Son Hui, a vice minister of foreign affairs, was quoted Thursday by the North’s state-run news agency slamming as \u201cignorant\u201d and \u201cstupid\u201d comments Pence made in an interview with Fox News that compared the nuclear-capable North to Libya. Libya gave up its program at an early stage only to see its longtime dictator overthrown and brutally killed years later.<\/p>\n

She questioned whether the summit would be worthwhile if the remarks reflect Washington’s position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,\u201d KCNA quoted her as saying. \u201cWhether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The summit plan has hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun trading barbs and taking tougher positions.\u00a0Trump\u00a0met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed or even called off entirely.<\/p>\n

Even so, both sides still seem to want to hold the meeting, which would be unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Success in talks would be a huge accomplishment for\u00a0Trump.\u00a0Meeting with the U.S. president as an equal on the world stage would be a major coup for Kim.<\/p>\n

Despite its insults to Pence and defiant rhetorical flourishes, Choe’s statement did not directly criticize\u00a0Trump\u00a0and carefully noted that she would only recommend the North Korean leader withdraw from the meeting if Washington \u201cclings to unlawful and outrageous acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, officials from the two sides are reportedly planning to meet in Singapore this weekend to further discuss the agenda and logistics. And North Korea was moving forward with a major gesture of goodwill ahead of the summit by dismantling its nuclear test site.<\/p>\n

The North, which has vowed to stop all underground nuclear testing and intercontinental ballistic missile launches, has invited foreign media to the remote site to observe a ceremony to mark the closing. The ceremony was expected to be held Thursday or Friday, depending on the weather.<\/p>\n

Choe, a veteran diplomat and former head of the North America desk at the North’s Foreign Ministry, was responding to comments Pence made to Fox News this week that it would be a \u201cmistake\u201d for the North Koreans to think they can \u201cplay\u201d\u00a0Trump.\u00a0Pence said both the Clinton and Bush administrations had been \u201cplayed\u201d by the North Korean government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offered concessions to the North Korean regime in exchange for promises to end their nuclear weapons program, only to see them break those promises and abandon them,\u201d Pence said, adding that if Pyongyang does not go along with talks to give up its nuclear weapons, Washington could return to the \u201cLibya model.\u201d<\/p>\n

That suggestion \u2014 which\u00a0Trump\u00a0had earlier seemed to distance himself from \u2014 is especially inflammatory to Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

The Libya model refers to negotiations in 2004 that led to the shipping of nuclear components to the U.S. from Libya under Moammar Gadhafi. But in Pyongyang’s mind the most important part of the story is what came after that. Gadhafi was deposed after a 42-year reign and killed in 2011 \u2014 the year Kim assumed power in North Korea \u2014 while his country spiraled into chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn view of the remarks of the U.S. high-ranking politicians who have not yet woken up to this stark reality and compare the DPRK to Libya that met a tragic fate, I come to think that they know too little about us,\u201d Choe said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cTo borrow their words, we can also make the U.S. taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined up to now.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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