North Korea warns of 'nuclear showdown' with US if talks over weapons programme break down

North Korea has warned Donald Trump that the US could face an 'appalling tragedy' if talks between the countries fail
EPA

North Korea has threatened the US with a “nuclear showdown” and warned that the country could “taste an appalling tragedy” if talks between the two countries break down.

The warning comes as the rogue state cast fresh doubt on the planned summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump over the future of its nuclear weapons.

The fate of the talks is “entirely” up to the US, North Korea’s foreign minister Choe Son-hui said in statement on Thursday, adding that the two countries could engage in a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown”.

“We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us," the statement read.

Will they, won’t they? The much-anticipated summit now hangs in the balance
Getty Images

"Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States."

The summit plan has hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun taking tougher positions and trading barbs.

Mr Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed.

But the US later said it is still working on making it happen.

Questions continue to rise over Kim Jong-un's planned meeting with Donald Trump
AFP/Getty Images

Choe, a veteran diplomat and former head of the North America desk at the Foreign Ministry, was responding to comments Pence made to Fox News this week.

Mr Pence had said that it would be a "mistake" for the North Koreans to think they can "play" Mr Trump.

He said both the Clinton and Bush administrations had been "played" by the North Korean government.

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"We offered concessions to the North Korean regime in exchange for promises to end their nuclear weapons program, only to see them break those promises and abandon them," he said, adding that if Pyongyang does not go along with talks to give up its nuclear weapons, Washington could return to the "Libya model."

That suggestion, which was made earlier this month by National Security Adviser John Bolton and also sparked an outraged response from the North, is especially inflammatory to Pyongyang.

The Libya model refers to negotiations in 2004 that led to the shipping of nuclear components to the US from Libya under Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi was deposed after a 42-year reign and killed in 2011 - the year Kim assumed power in North Korea - while his country spiralled into chaos.

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