North Korea threatens to reconsider historic summit with Trump after ‘ignorant and stupid political dummy’ Mike Pence compared the country to Libya

• North Korea ‘s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui slammed Pence his remarks
• Also called him a ‘political dummy’ and ‘ignorant and stupid’ in scathing quote  
• She said that Kim Jong Un may reconsider if the US offends their ‘good will’
• Pence told Fox News on Monday that North Korea could end up like Libya if they don’t make a deal with Trump  

North Korea’s vice foreign minister has slammed Vice President Mike Pence for his ‘unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya’.

Choe Son Hui also said the future of the summit between Pyongyang and Washington is ‘entirely’ up to the United States, as she condemned Pence’s interview with Fox News.

‘We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,’ said Choe Son Hui, according to a report by North Korea’s central news agency on Thursday.

She added: ‘I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president.

North Korea has called Mike Pence ‘ignorant and stupid’ for comments he made comparing the state to Libya. The vice president is pictured on Wednesday in Connecticut 

‘We could surmise more than enough what a political dummy he is (Pence), as he is trying to compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them.’ 

Choe Son Hui, North Korea’s vice foreign minister, said: ‘We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us’

Choe said she could suggest to leader Kim Jong Un that North Korea reconsider the summit, set for June 12 in Singapore, if the United States offends the North’s good will.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said the fate of the summit would be decided ‘next week’. 

Pence was a focal part of the initial stages of diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea.

He sat and watched the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympic games  in February with Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier this year. 

The vice president made the controversial remarks about the North and Libya on Monday in an interview with Fox New’s Martha MacCallum.

‘You know, there was some talk of the Libyan model last week. And as the president made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal,’ he said.

‘It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong Un to think he could play Donald Trump.’

‘We really hope that Kim Jong Un will seize the opportunity to dismantle his nuclear weapons program, and do so by peaceable means’.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday Washington is prepared to walk away from the talks if it heads in a bad direction.

‘A bad deal is not an option,’ Pompeo said in his written opening statement for a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. ‘The American people are counting on us to get this right. If the right deal is not on the table, we will respectfully walk away.’

In his first public testimony in Congress since becoming secretary of state last month, the former Republican House member was questioned for more than three hours about a variety of world hotspots, focusing largely on North Korea and Iran but with tough talk also for NATO ally Turkey.

The vice president made the controversial remarks about the North and Libya on Monday in an interview with Fox New’s Martha MacCallum

Vice President Pence watches the joint march by the athletes of both Koreas at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics in PyeongChang earlier this year 

Choe said she could suggest to leader Kim Jong Un that North Korea reconsider the summit, set for June 12 in Singapore , if the United States offends the North’s good will

Pompeo expressed hope the North Korea summit will take place on June 12 in Singapore as scheduled after Trump said there was a ‘substantial chance’ it will be called off amid concerns Pyongyang will not give up its nuclear arsenal.

He said Trump would be leading the talks but declined to discuss how many people, or who, would be on the summit team.

Pompeo, who was CIA director before becoming secretary of state after Trump fired Rex Tillerson, has met twice with Kim in Pyongyang. On his most recent trip he brought back three Americans who had been held by North Korea.

Pompeo also addressed tensions with Iran over its nuclear program, saying Washington was seeking to meet with European and other allies on the way forward after Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran deal earlier this month.

He said he intends to meet with allies in June to discuss next steps to stop what he described as all of Tehran’s nuclear and non-nuclear threats.

‘We’re not very far along … A number of discussions have taken place below the foreign minister level,’ Pompeo said.

In a major speech on Monday, Pompeo demanded sweeping changes or said Tehran would face the ‘strongest sanctions in history’ unless it changes its behavior.

Committee members repeatedly asked Pompeo about Americans held in Iran. Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear accord prompted concerns among families of American prisoners held by the Islamic Republic that it will be more difficult to win their release. 

A satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea as journalist prepare to visit the site ahead of its dismantling 

North Korea is expected to demolish the site any day now as part of the peace process 

It is located North Hamgyong Province and is the only known nuclear facility in the country

 

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