N.Korea threatens to walk away from US summit
Pyongyang, May 24: North Korea will reconsider the planned summit with the US if Washington sticks to "unlawful and outrageous acts," Pyongyang's Vice Foreign Minister said on Thursday.
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Choe Son-hui said that whether the June 12 summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump will happen as scheduled entirely rests on the decision and behaviour of Washington, reports Yonhap News Agency.
"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 US," Choe said.
"In case the US offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the summit," she added.
The threat came after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump held a summit in Washington on Tuesday where the latter suggested the summit with the North might not take place on June 12.
North Korea has ramped up criticism of the US for forcing "unilateral" denuclearisation.
The Trump administration maintains that it seeks the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear programme, with no promise of concessions until that process is in motion.
The North reportedly wants a phased and synchronous approach.
Choe singled out US Vice President Mike Pence and slammed him for mentioning a Libya-style approach and military option against the North in a recent media interview.
"US Vice-President Pence has made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya, military option for North Korea never came off the table, the US needs complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation, and so on," she said.
"As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US Vice-President."
Pyongyang last week suspended its contacts with Seoul and altered the cordial tone used in recent months with South Korea and the US.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
