North Korea Cancels South Korea Meeting, Due to U.S.-South Korea Military Exercises

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

North Korea Cancels South Korea Meeting, Due to U.S.-South Korea Military Exercises

May 15, 2018 (EIRNS)—North Korea canceled a high-level meeting with South Korea scheduled for May 16 due to an ongoing U.S.-South Korean air force exercise.

“This exercise targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula,”

said Pyongyang’s official news agency KCNA, according to Yonhap.

“The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.”

The annual exercise, dubbed “Max Thunder,” kicked off on May 11 and is scheduled to run for two weeks. According to a report posted last week by the South Korean KBS broadcaster, the exercise will involve 100 aircraft, including eight F-22 stealth fighters; an unspecified number of B-52 bombers, and South Korean F-15K fighters.