Obama Spurns North Korea Offer to Suspend Missile Program

Insists North Korea 'Going to Have to Do Better Than That'

Speaking during is visit to Germany, President Obama denounced North Korea for its offer to abandon its nuclear and missile program in return for an end to US military exercises with South Korea, condemning the nation for its “provocative behaviors.”

Tensions between North Korea and the US rise this time of year every year, as North Korean officials condemn the ever-larger US military exercises, and conduct tests which they present as purely defensive, but which the US presents as proof that they are hostile.

Indeed, as much as President Obama rails against North Korea’s nuclear test from back in February, the North Korean government had offered full nuclear disarmament just days before in return for an agreement to sign a deal to end the Korean War, which despite being in a state of mostly-ceasefire is fast approaching its 70th year.

The Obama Administration has repeatedly spurned North Korean offers for a peace treaty, insisting North Korea’s actions, themselves usually reactions to the latest failed offer, prove that the US doesn’t want peace with them. It is this refusal to even contemplate peace which has kept the war going for generations.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.