South Korean leftists shout slogans and hold a banner near the US embassy in Seoul to echo Pyongyang's professed anger at US-South Korea war games code-named Max Thunder. (EPA photo)SEOUL: North Korea said Thursday it will not hold talks with Seoul under the current diplomatic situation, calling South Korean officials "ignorant and incompetent" a day after the hermit state abruptly cancelled planned inter-Korean discussions. "On this opportunity the present South Korean authorities have been clearly proven to be an ignorant and incompetent group devoid of the elementary sense of the present situation," he added. The Pentagon said on Thursday there was no discussion of scaling back future military exercises between the United States and South Korea, which have provoked the ire of North Korea ahead of a planned U.S.-North Korean summit. During the talks, which will follow the first-ever US-North Korea summit on June 12, the defence chiefs are expected to reaffirm the two countries' commitment to continuing to apply pressure on North Korea until its complete denuclearisation, the sources said.

Source: Bangkok Post May 17, 2018 18:22 UTC