North Korea abandons talks with South, Trump amidst US and ROK joint military drills

Just ahead of upcoming peace talks between South Korea, the US, and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the US conduct military scenario drills rehearsing conflict against the North.

These drills are being perceived by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a provocation. CGTN reports:

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cancelled talks with the Republic of Korea in response to military drills carried out between ROK and the United States, Yonhap reported Wednesday (local time).

According to the report, DPRK’s Central News Agency (KCNA) stated that the air force drills being carried out between ROK and the United States are a “rehearsal for invasion of the North and a provocation.”

The talks scheduled for Wednesday were planned to discuss follow up actions following the historic summit that took place between DPRK’s leader Kim Jon Un and ROK’s president Moon Jae-in.

The DPRK has also threatened to pull out of the upcoming Trump summit over the military drills.

“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 KCNA report said. “The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned DPRK-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.”

In response to the DPRK’s announcement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert stated “We will continue to plan the meeting,” adding there has been “no notification” that the DPRK plans to cancel the summit.

The cancelled talks with ROK were due to take place on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, where the two Korea leaders had called for a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, and a plan to begin a “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

With information from Yonhap. Story is developing. Check back for updates.

We were looking talks aimed at ending a war and removing a potential nuclear danger, which now appear to be little more than talks between Washington and Pyongyang, which will apparently realize the subject of American forces, and how they are propping up the war and threat of hostilities, as the Korean talks appear to be off the table and negotiations with Trump seem to now be on life support.

While this situation is still playing out, the question comes, why in the world are the US and South Korea conducting military drills perspective of a conflict with North Korea going down just a day before peace talks are to ensue, envisioning further development of a denuclearization agreement? Whose bright idea was it to move forward with this regimen? How are you showing the opposite party your sincerity and commitment to peace and denuclearization when you go on to continue practicing conflicts that see them as the foe to be eliminated or neutralized as a threat?

Meanwhile, this is taking place right on the heels of Trump’s violation of a multilateral nuclear weapons development accord with Iran, where Washington, after agreeing to be a party to shackle Iran’s nuclear development picks up with perceiving Iran as a threat, and resumes its economic pressures on the country, apparently with a view to provoking popular unrest leading to potential regime change. Openly.

Even if the US and ROK had had this drill in the works for some time and simply has failed to cancel it, we’d still be looking at some rank incompetence here. But with this being coupled with the JCPOA withdrawal, one begins to wonder whether these were conducted sequentially in order to nix a potential peace agreement, therefore threatening any economic cooperation between the Koreas and their neighbors, as well as protecting the interests of the American missile defense shield and the military industrial complex. It’s really kind of hard to envision this going down without some real intention to derail improved relations and protect the status quo, or else some real stupidity; that is, assuming that North Korea is and ever was sincere on settling for peace anyway. What are they smoking on in DC? Can’t we at least pretend we want peace? How about some peace drills?