On Wednesday, May 16, at 0030 KST, North Korea informed its South Korean counterparts that it would withdraw from an inter-Korean meeting planned for the same day, citing ongoing joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. In a subsequent report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang also suggested that it could retract its participation in an upcoming summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.

Just hours later another message was issued: a statement by Kim Kye Gwan, the First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, condemned National Security Advisor John Bolton, explicitly rejecting CVID (Complete, Verifiable, and Irreversible