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North Korea Threatens to Cancel Talks, Restart Tests

Written by SK Ashby

North Korea partially decommissioned and dismantled one of their launch sites last year in a symbolic gesture, but activity was recently detected at the site where new constructions has been underway since before Trump's most recent meeting with Kim Jong-un.

Now, it may be a coincidence, but North Korean officials are now threatening to resume tests unless Trump makes more concessions.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, a senior diplomat said on Friday, according to news reports from the North’s capital.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top U.S. officials for the breakdown of last month’s summit in Hanoi between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia’s TASS news agency and the Associated Press reported.

Trump has already made several significant concessions -- from meeting with Kim Jong-un in the first place to suspending large-scale military exercises with South Korea -- and he has nothing to show for it.

I figured North Korea would wait until the end of Trump's term of the next administration to resume tests, but they may do so sooner rather than later knowing that Trump has already given them all the political cover they need to do it.