South Korea to continue drills after North Korean threats

UPDATE: President Donald Trump said Wednesday that North Korea has not notified the United States about its threats to cancel next month’s summit in Singapore. The president told reporters, as he welcomed Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the White House, he’ll still insist on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (11:56 a.m.): The South Korean Defense Ministry on Wednesday said it will continue joint military exercises with the United States, a day after North Korea scrapped a high-level meeting with South Korea and threatened to cancel leader Kim Jong Un’s planned historical summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The joint drills, which include about 100 aircraft, began Monday and will continue through May 25. South Korean military spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo said the Max Thunder Drills are not attack exercises and instead are focused on improving the skills of pilots. North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan in a statement said the country has no interest in the summit if it will be a “one-sided” effort to pressure the North to forgo its nuclear weapons. He said the outcome of the summit is clear as some U.S. officials haved called for a “Libyan model” of disarmament. “We will appropriately respond to the Trump administration if it approaches the North Korea–U.S. summit meeting with a truthful intent to improve relations,” Kim said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on North Korea to continue with its plans for the summit, which is scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, and ensure it yields “substantial outcomes.”