Alwaght- US President Donald Trump has threatened to resume war games with South Korea following the stalling of nuclear talks with North Korea.
Trump has said war games around the Korean Peninsula would be “far bigger than ever before” and blamed China again for a lack of progress in getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
In a series of tweets, Trump projected mixed messages on his administration’s relations with China and negotiations with North Korea, simultaneously expressing respect for the two countries’ leaders, but warning them to fall in line with Washington’s objectives.
“President Donald J. Trump feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government,” Trump said on Twitter.
“We also know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful!”
Restarting military drills would likely draw the ire of North Korea, which has in the past responded to the annual drills with threats of force.
The US secretary of defense, Jame Mattis, has also suggested the US and South Korea could resume large scale military exercises, as negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program stall.
Mattis’s comments come less than a week after Trump abruptly cancelled a trip by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang, prompted by a strongly worded letter from North Korean officials.
North Korea warned the negotiations are “again at stake and may fall apart” and if talks break down Pyongyang could restart “nuclear and missile activities.”
The letter was sent by Kim Yong-chol, a senior advisor to Kim Jong-un and former head of the country’s spy agency. The letter said North Korea felt talks had stalled because “the US is still not ready to meet [North Korean] expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty”.
The 1950-53 Korean war ended in an armistice instead of a formal peace declaration, meaning the United Nations forces led by the US technically remain at war with the North. North Korea’s state run media has repeatedly called in recent weeks for peace talks to come before nuclear negotiations.
