In other news...<br />It appears U.S. diplomacy with North Korea is on hold right now.<br />President Trump has abruptly called off his Secretary of State's planned visit to Pyongyang,... citing the regime's lack of progress on denuclearization.<br />Hwang Hojun reports. <br /> The Twitter bomb dropped just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced he was going to visit North Korea next week.<br />President Trump tweeted on Friday local time that he asked Pompeo not to go to Pyongyang at this time due to the regime's insufficient progress on the issue of denuclearization. <br /> He also criticized China for hampering the process, in reference of the ongoing tariff war between Washington and Beijing.<br /> However, President Trump still sent his regards to Kim Jong-un, ending his tweet by saying he looks forward to seeing him soon.<br />Pompeo's visit would have been his fourth to North Korea.<br /> The cancellation of Pompeo's trip comes amid rising skepticism on whether the North Korean leader is serious about his commitment to dismantle the regime's nuclear and missile programs.<br />Since the North Korea-U.S. summit in June, Pyongyang has taken visual steps such as demolishing its only known nuclear test site and its missile engine testing site.<br /> However, experts say they are hard to verify without outside inspection.<br />Moreover, the International Atomic Energy Agency published a report this week, expressing its quote "grave concern" over North Korea's continued activities at the Yongbyon nuclear site.<br />Some observers are saying this is another tactic by the Trump administration to put more pressure on North Korea.<br />In fact, this isn't the first time Trump has scrapped a scheduled meeting with Pyongyang; he called off his Singapore summit with Kim in May,... before hastily rearranging it.<br /> While South Korea's Blue House is yet to respond to the cancelation, it's likely to put more pressure on Seoul as President Moon Jae-in is due to head to Pyongyang in September to hold his third summit with Kim Jong-un.<br />Hwang Hojun, Arirang News. <br />
