Title : North Korea pleads with Trump to reconsider cancellation of summit
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North Korea pleads with Trump to reconsider cancellation of summit
- North Korea reacts for the first time to Trump's cancellation of summit with Kim
- Pyongyang also carried out a series of explosions at a nuclear test site
- Demolition of Punggye-ri test site witnessed by group of foreign journalists
- The extent of destruction of the underground facility has not been confirmed
- South Korean President Moon Jae-in 'very perplexed' over canceled summit
North Korea released fresh images of what it says was the demolition of a nuclear test site on the same day it expressed regret over President Donald Trump's decision to cancel a June 12 summit with ruler Kim Jong-un.
North Korea on Friday said it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision Pyongyang described as 'extremely regrettable'.
'The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable,' Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
'We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem,' Kim added.
The second tunnel and an observatory of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground is blown up during the dismantlement process in Punggye-ri
A photo taken on May 24, 2018 shows the entrance to a nuclear test tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri test facility prior to its demolition
A photo taken on May 24, 2018 shows a general view of a dust cloud surrounding the area near the entrance to a tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test facility
The above photo shows the entrance to a nuclear test tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri test facility
It is not known to what extent the northeastern Punggye-ri facility has been demolished, but foreign journalists invited to witness the destruction described a series of 'huge explosions'
The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were reportedly centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area
Rocks cover the entrance of a second tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground
Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb
North Korean soldiers close the gate of the third tunnel of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground before it is blown up
Experts are divided over whether the demolition will render the site useless
Blown up: This satellite image from yesterday shows the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea, which has now reportedly been demolished
The tunnel complex below Mount Mantapsan is believed to be based on old Soviet and American designs and is used for North Korea's nuclear tests. After the latest and most powerful test, in September last year, the mountain shifted - leading to speculation that part of the complex collapsed and rendered in unusable
President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming 'open hostility' from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any 'foolish or reckless acts'.
In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a 'trail of broken promises' by the North.
In his Friday statement, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim said the North Korean leader had been preparing for the summit to go ahead.
'Our Chairman (Kim Jong-un) had also said a meeting with President Trump would create a good beginning and had been putting effort into preparations for it,' Kim said.
Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had 'completely' dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.
President Donald Trump said Thursday at the White House that a nuclear summit with North Korea's dictator, which he had canceled hours earlier, might still take place – but he warned Kim Jong-un that America's military might stands ready to keep him in check
Kim was to meet with Trump on June 12 in Singapore but Trump called off the meeting in a strongly worded letter after a North Korean official hurled insults at Vice President Mike Pence
'You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never be used,' Trump wrote to Kim
It is not known to what extent the northeastern Punggye-ri facility has been demolished, but foreign journalists invited to witness the destruction described a series of 'huge explosions'.
The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were reportedly centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.
'There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud,' Sky News' Tom Cheshire, who was among the journalists invited, wrote on the British broadcaster's web site.
Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.
Experts are divided over whether the demolition will render the site useless.
Skeptics say the facility has already outlived its usefulness with six successful nuclear tests in the bag and can be quickly rebuilt if needed.
Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, also told Vice News that North Korea has two further tunnel complexes running into adjacent mountains that are undamaged from previous tests.
North Korea also did not invite any independent observers, raising speculation that it was simply destroying evidence of its nuclear program with the blessing of the United States.
This is also not the first time that North Korea has demolished one of its nuclear facilities without hampering the country's progress in building a nuclear bomb.
A North Korean airport official is seen guiding South Korean journalists upon their arrival at North Korea's Kalma airport in Wonsan yesterday
In 2008, a cooling tower at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center was demolished in front of the eyes of the world's media.
The tower was part of the complex that produced polonium used in the country's first nuclear test, and at the time was seen as a symbolic move toward disarmament.
Youngbyon had ceased operating the year before after a series of complex negotiations between North Korea, China and the US.
But it is believed North Korea only closed the site having enriched enough material for several nuclear tests, only to reopen it years later when it needed more.
The country claimed to have restarted the site in 2015, and in 2016 the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed that the plant was probably operational.
The chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face between Trump and Kim had recently been thrown into doubt.
On Thursday Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric by attacking US Vice President Mike Pence as 'ignorant and stupid'.
That broadside appeared to hit a nerve with Trump, leading to him abruptly pulling out of the talks.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in (seen left with Trump at the White House on Tuesday) says he's 'very perplexed' that the U.S.-North Korea summit won't go ahead as planned
'Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,' read Trump's letter to Kim, which was dictated word-for-word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he's 'very perplexed' that the U.S.-North Korea summit won't go ahead as planned.
Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between Trump and Kim.
Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean 'hostility.'
Moon was quoted as saying: 'I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12.'
He said, 'Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.'
Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the president's decision Thursday.
'Ready to fight TONIGHT': Trump's Pentagon ramps up the rhetoric and he boasts of 'massive' nuclear arsenal after canceling North Korea summit with Kim - even though he says talks might still happen
President Donald Trump's Pentagon issued a warning to North Korea late Thursday, hours after he canceled a planned nuclear disarmament summit, that U.S. forces are ready 'to fight tonight'.
Pentagon joint staff director Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters that American military forces in South Korea are in 'a high state of vigilance,' adding that the U.S. is always prepared to respond to provocations from Kim Jong-un's dictatorship 'because they have proven to be unpredictable in the past.'
He spoke hours after Trump himself used a letter to Kim to tell him he was walking away from the talks, and said: 'You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never be used.'
President Donald Trump said Thursday at the White House that a nuclear summit with North korea's dictator, which he had canceled hours earlier, might still take place – but he warned Kim Jong-un that America's military might stands ready to keep him in check
Trump later warned Kim Jong-un that the United States military stands ready to jump into the breach if he tries anything 'foolish.'
'Hopefully everything's going to work out well with North Korea, and a lot of things can happen, including the fact that perhaps – and we'd wait – it's possible that the existing summit could take place or a summit at some later date,' Trump said before a bill-signing event in the White House's Roosevelt Room.
'Nobody should be anxious,' he counseled. 'We have to get it right.'
Moments earlier he declared that he had 'decided to terminate' the meeting and challenged dictator the dictator Kim to scrap his nuclear ambitions in favor of joining the civilized world and escaping the West's economic stranglehold.
'All of the Korean people, North and South, deserve to be able to live together in harmony, prosperity and peace,' Trump said, but 'that bright and beautiful future can only happen when the threat of nuclear weapons is removed. No way it can happen otherwise.'
'If and when Kim Jong-un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting,' he continued, punctuating the last three words.
Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana White (left) and Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie (right) told reporters Thursday that America's armed forces are locked and loaded, and ready to strike North Korea if called upon
'In the meantime, our very strong sanctions, by far the strongest sanctions ever imposed, and maximum pressure campaign, will continue as it has been continuing.'
Trump's letter to Kim on Thursday boasted of America's gargantuan nuclear arsenal, and he drove the point home at the White House.
'I've spoke to General Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,' he said. 'And our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere the world – that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know – is ready if necessary.'
'Likewise I have spoken to South Korea and Japan, and they are not only ready should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated by the the United States, in operations if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.'
'Hopefully, positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea,' Trump told an audience of one watching in Pyongyang. 'But if they don't, we are more ready than we have ever been before.'
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters that the Defense Department represents one prong of Trump's 'maximum pressure' strategy, which combines economic sanctions, diplomatic tension and the weight of a constant military presence.
'We are ready to fight tonight. That's always been the case,' said White.
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