Source: BBC News
A senior North Korean official has dismissed remarks by US Vice-President Mike Pence as “stupid”, casting further uncertainty about a planned meeting between the two countries’ leaders.
Choe Son-hui said the North would not “beg” for dialogue and warned of a “nuclear showdown” if diplomacy failed.
In recent days, both sides have said that the 12 June Trump-Kim summit could be delayed or even called off.
North Korea insists it will not give up its nuclear weapons unilaterally.
Why Choe’s statement matters
Choe Son-hui has been involved in several diplomatic interactions with the US over the past decade. She is one of Kim Jong-un’s top aides and analysts say her statement will have been sanctioned by the leader himself.
It came days after Mr Pence warned that North Korea “may end like Libya” – where then-leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels in 2011 after renouncing nuclear weapons eight years earlier.
Ms Choe, in an article carried by the state news agency KCNA on Thursday, said Mr Pence had made “unbridled and impudent remarks”.
She added: “As a person involved in US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing from the mouth of the US vice-president.
“Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States.”
Meanwhile North Korea is pressing ahead with plans to dismantle its only nuclear testing facility later this week.
The Punggye-ri site is located in a remote part of the north-west of the country. A group of international journalists, who have been invited to observe the event, are on their way there.
How this story has developed
– 10 May: Trump says he will meet Kim in Singapore on 12 June
– 12 May: North Korea announces dismantling of test site
– 16 May: North threatens to scrap summit over comments by US National Security John Bolton about “Libyan model”
– 18 May: Trump distances himself from Bolton, saying US is not pushing for Libya-style denuclearisation
– 22 May: Trump insists that unless the US gets “certain conditions… we won’t have the meeting”
