President Trump’s planned summit meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea is in doubt after Pyongyang threatened today to withdraw if Washington insisted on “unilateral nuclear abandonment.”
Rejecting the Trump administration’s demand that it quickly dismantle its nuclear program, as Libya did 15 years ago, North Korea singled out John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser, saying in a statement, “We do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him.” Read a transcript of the North Korean statement here.
The announcement came hours after state media in Pyongyang warned that themeeting might be canceled to protest the joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea that began this week.
• The State Department said that planning for the June 12 meeting in Singapore remained on track, but the news from North Korea reflected a pattern by the unpredictable regime: diplomatic outreach, followed by erratic behavior. Here’s a look at previous instances.