|
The
letter was delivered directly to U.S Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, and stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's
government felt that the process could not move forward.
"The U.S. is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations
in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty," CNN
reported, citing sources. https://cnn.it/2MAI9AT
The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a
peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at
war with North Korea.
The North has long made clear that it sees an official end to
the state of war as crucial to lowering tensions on the Korean
peninsula.
The United States has been reluctant to declare an end to the
Korean War until after North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons
program.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that U.S. President
Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Pompeo after
the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North
Korean official just hours after the trip was announced last
week.
CNN reported that the letter was sent by the former head of
North Korea's spy agency, Kim Yong Chol, but it was not known
how it was sent. The Washington Post said North Korea had been
increasingly communicating through its U.N. mission.
CNN reported that the letter also mentioned that if a compromise
could not be reached and the nascent talks crumbles, North Korea
could resume "nuclear and missile activities".
'PLOT'
On Sunday, North Korea's state media accused the United States
of "double-dealing" and "hatching a criminal plot" but did not
mention Pompeo's canceled visit. (nL2N1VI1WU)
The Washington Post said the exact contents of the message were
unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and
Pompeo decided to call off the planned trip.
The trip had been announced the previous day for this week and
Pompeo had intended to introduce a newly named special envoy,
Stephen Biegun, to his North Korean counterparts.
The White House referred queries on the Washington Post report
to the State Department, which did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
In cancelling Pompeo's trip, Trump publicly acknowledged for the
first time that his effort to get North Korea to denuclearize
had stalled since his June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore.
{nL2N1VF10N]
U.S. intelligence and defense officials have repeatedly
expressed doubts about North Korea's willingness to give up its
nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo's trip to yield
positive results.
A South Korea presidential spokesman said he was not in a
position to comment on the authenticity of the letter but
acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were in
a stalemate.
"With North Korea and the U.S. remaining stalemated, there is a
even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit," Kim Eui-kyeom, a
spokesman for the presidential Blue House told a briefing.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said this month his planned
third summit with North Korea's Kim next month would be another
step towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an
end to the Korean War.
(Reporting by Mekhla Raina in BENGALURU, David Brunnstrom and
Matt Spetalnick in WASHINGTON, Cynthia Kim in SEOUL; Editing by
Peter Cooney, Robert Birsel)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
