White House says there is intelligence North Korea could conduct a missile or nuclear test DURING Biden's trip to South Korea and Japan and confirms president won't visit the DMZ amid tensions
By NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 05:06 AEST, 19 May 2022 | UPDATED: 05:12 AEST, 19 May 2022
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that U.S. intelligence said there's a 'genuine possibility' that North Korea could conduct a missile or nuclear test while President Joe Biden is visiting South Korea or Japan later this week.
'We are preparing for all contingencies, including the possibility that such a provocation would occur while we are in Korea or in Japan,' Sullivan said during Wednesday's press briefing.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said Wednesday that Biden 'will not visit the DMZ' while in South Korea, the Korean Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (left) said Wednesday there's a 'genuine possibility' that North Korea could conduct a nuclear or missile test while President Joe Biden is in the region, while press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (right) said Biden wouldn't visit the DMZ
President Joe Biden (left), serving as vice president, visited the DMZ in 2013. He looked into North Korea with binoculars alongside granddaughter Finnegan Biden (right)
Former President Donald Trump (right) visited the DMZ in June of 2019 and was the first American leader to meet with a North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un (left), in the space between North and South Korea
Biden visited the DMZ as vice president in 2013.
More recently, former President Donald Trump went to the DMZ in June of 2019 and crossed into North Korea, meeting leader Kim Jong Un, a year after they first held talks in Singapore.
In February 2019, Trump walked away from denuclearization talks with Kim at a second summit in Vietnam.
Since Trump's trio of Kim meetings, U.S. denuclearization talks with North Korea have stalled.
As of last week, then White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated a trip to the DMZ for Biden was still on the table.
Sullivan said as part of Biden's first Asia trip, which kicks off Thursday, he would observe American and Korean troops.
North Korea hasn't tested a nuclear bomb since 2017, but resumed testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles earlier this year.
Earlier this month, North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said.
North Korea, however, is reportedly suffering from a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time.
Biden's first stop in Asia is to South Korea where he'll meet with the country's new leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Yoon won election, in part, because he said he'd take a tougher stance against North Korea.
The country's previous president, Moon Jae-in, tried to promote a peaceful reconciliation between the two Koreas.
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North Korea could conduct a missile or nuclear test DURING Biden's trip
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