North Korea Denies Agreeing to Talks Under U.S. Pressure

North Korea warned the United States on Sunday not to provoke it and denied that it agreed to talks under U.S. pressure, just weeks before a bilateral summit that the world is eagerly anticipating.

The claim that Pyongyang’s arrival at the negotiating table is a “sign of weakness does not favor” dialogue and could “return the situation to square one,” warned a spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry on Sunday.

He accused the U.S. of “deliberately provoking” Pyongyang in an attempt to halt the “atmosphere of dialogue.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time soon, just weeks after a summit involving the latter and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The North Korean spokesman did not mention the Trump-Kim summit.

After years of tension over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs, tensions between the two Koreas, which are officially still at war, have begun to ease since the beginning of the year.

Trump stated at the end of April that his firm stance towards North Korea contributed to calming the situation.

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He recalled the criticisms he faced from domestic critics during the peak of tensions with Kim when the two leaders exchanged personal insults and threatened war almost daily.

“Do you remember what they were saying? ‘They will push us into a nuclear war,'” Trump said. “No, strength will keep us from nuclear war, and it will not push us into it!”