Staff ReporterReports say North Korea has threatened to pull out of a summit with US President Donald Trump if the US insists it gives up its nuclear weapons.
The highly anticipated meeting between Mr Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is due to take place on 12 June in Singapore.
But in an angry statement, North Korea’s vice-foreign minister accused the US of making reckless statements and of harbouring sinister intentions.
He pointed the finger squarely at US National Security Adviser John Bolton.
“We do not hide our feeling of repugnance towards him,” said Kim Kye-gwan.
The groundbreaking agreement for Mr Kim and Mr Trump to meet came about as North Korea said it was committed to de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula.
Exactly what that would entail has remained unclear, but North Korea has invited foreign media to witness the dismantling of its main nuclear test site later this month.
Mr Bolton recently said North Korea could follow a “Libya model” of verifiable denuclearisation, but Pyongyang has in the past suggested that Libya may have escaped Western military intervention in 2011 had it kept its nuclear weapons programme.
