Washington, May 24: US President Donald Trump Thursday cancelled his proposed meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore, citing Pyongyang’s anger and hostility as the reason behind his decision. Trump’s announcement came hours after North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday.
In April, Trump had stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Kim in an unprecedented sit-down. Trump and Kim had previously traded insults and threats.
Earlier Thursday North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.
The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North’s sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels at the underground site and a number of buildings in the surrounding area.
The planned closing was previously announced by leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned (now cncelled) summit with US President Donald Trump, which was scheduled to take place next month.
The demolition came as the North lobbed another verbal salvo at Washington, calling Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy and saying it is just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table.
By bringing in a small group of television journalists and other members of the news media, the North is likely hoping to have dramatic images of the closing – including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances – broadcast around the world.
The group of journalists that witnessed the demolition included an Associated Press Television crew.
The North did not invite international nuclear weapons inspectors to the ceremony.
The first blast visiting journalists witnessed happened at around 11 a.m. local time. North Korean officials said it collapsed the north tunnel, which was used for five nuclear tests between 2009 and last year.
Two other explosions at around 2:20 p.m. and 4 p.m. demolished the west and south tunnels, according to officials.
Thursday’s demolition also involved the destruction of observation posts and barracks used by guards and other workers at the facility. Another tunnel on the eastern side of the facility was shut down after an initial nuclear test in 2006.
The journalists who were allowed to witness the demolition arrived in the morning and stayed at the site for around nine hours.
Getting to the remote site required an 11-hour overnight train journey from Wonsan, a port city east of the capital, Pyongyang.
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 that a major gap has opened between the two sides just weeks before the June 12 summit in Singapore.
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.
Choe Son Hui, a vice minister of foreign affairs, was quoted today by the North’s state-run news agency slamming as ignorant and stupid 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.
The summit plan hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun trading barbs and taking tougher positions. Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed or even called off entirely.
Even so, both sides still seem to want to hold the meeting, which would be unprecedented.
Success in talks would be a huge accomplishment for Trump. Meeting with the US president as an equal on the world stage would be a major coup for Kim.
