North Korea’s government has rejected a list of South Korean journalists invited to attend the planned dismantlement of a nuclear test site, according to South Korean officials.
Reuters reports that South Korea’s Unification Ministry announced Friday that North Korean officials “declined to accept” a list of the country’s reporters slated to attend the event, which will take place next month.
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The decision is likely to raise doubts in South Korea about whether the North is serious about easing tensions with its neighbor even after the two nations agreed last month to work toward peace and an end to the Korean War.
North Korea’s decision comes after one of the country’s top diplomats insulted South Korea’s government as “ignorant and incompetent” and the country threatened to pull out of planned talks with President Trump.
Trump shocked many in Washington and around the world earlier this year when he announced that he had accepted a meeting with Kim Jong Un. The meeting represents an unprecedented summit in modern history between a North Korean leader and a U.S. president.
Whether that summit will take place is now in question. The White House said Thursday that it is proceeding with negotiations, and will wait for North Korea to decide whether to terminate the talks.
“The United States will look at what North Korea has said independently, and continue to coordinate closely with our allies,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.